
Three arrested over criminal damage at Castletown House
Gardaí have arrested a man and two juveniles in
Kildare
in connection with criminal damage at Castletown House.
The three males were arrested on Friday morning by gardaí attached to Kildare North.
The arrests took place following a search operation at a number of residential properties in Kildare.
The three arrests relate to a number of separate incidents of criminal damage at Castletown House between
April 22nd to May 4th, 2025
.
READ MORE
Over the May bank holiday weekend, vandals entered a temporary
Office of Public Works
(OPW) depot at Donaghcumper House, overlooking the river Liffey in Celbridge, Co
Kildare
.
They first cut the wires to the house's CCTV units, then overturned four vehicles and dumped a cherrypicker into the river.
'The estimated cost of the damage is believed to be in the region of €400,000," a Garda spokesperson said on Friday.
Donaghcumper House was bought by
Kildare County Council
earlier this year with a view to creating a linear park along the Liffey, but it was bolted up and out of bounds to the public last week, with security at the gate.
The OPW was using it as a temporary depot in advance of the proposed reopening later this month of Castletown House, which has been at the centre of a major dispute over right-of-way access.
The three males, one adult male aged in his 30s and two juveniles, are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Garda stations in Kildare.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Boston rape trial: Judge declares mistrial after jury unable to reach decision
A jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the case of the Dublin firefighter accused of raping a US woman in Boston over St Patrick's Day weekend last year. Terence Crosbie (38) was on trial for raping a 29-year-old attorney in a shared hotel room while his Dublin Fire Brigade colleague Liam O'Brien slept. On Friday afternoon, when the jury of eight men and four women returned to the courtroom to outline that they they could not reach a verdict, the judge said: 'I find that this jury is hung.' After more than 22 hours of deliberation over four days the jury of eight men and four women were unable to reach a decision. READ MORE On Friday afternoon, following queries by the jury and statements that they could not reach a verdict, judge Sarah Ellis said: 'I declare that this jury is deadlocked and I declare a mistrial.' His next trial is set for October 14th. After declaring a mistrial Judge Ellis increased Mr Crosbie's bail from $10,000 to $50,000 declaring Mr Crosbie to be a flight risk. 'The state of the evidence is no longer speculative in this case,' Judge Ellis said. Mr Crosbie was one of more than 10 members of Dublin Fire Brigade who flew into Boston on March 14th to participate in the St Patrick's Day parade. The woman alleged that later that night she met Mr O'Brien at The Black Rose bar, returned with him to the Omni Parker House hotel, had consensual sex and fell asleep in separate beds. She alleged she awoke to a man she did not know raping her and disparaging Mr O'Brien who was snoring. 'I know you want this; [Mr O'Brien] can't even do this for you – what a loser,' she claimed Mr Crosbie said. The complainant and Mr Crosbie both testified during the five-day trial. Prosecutors said the complainant's testimony that she 'woke up' with a man raping her was supported by CCTV footage of Mr Crosbie entering the hotel room at the time in question and the complainant leaving 20 minutes later. Just because the woman went home with Mr O'Brien 'doesn't mean that that man's hotel roommate gets to rape her', prosecutor Erin Murphy told the court. Mr Crosbie 'isn't the unluckiest man in the world; he is the man who raped,' she said. His defence lawyer Daniel C Reilly asked jurors to end Mr Crosbie's 'nightmare' with an acquittal. Mr Crosbie was steadfast in his denial of the assault, insisting through his attorneys, police interviews and his own testimony that he 'didn't touch' the woman. 'There was nobody in my bed - my bed was empty,' Mr Crosbie told the court. 'I had no physical or sexual contact with her at all'. Mr Crosbie insisted that words the complainant attributed to the assailant such as 'loser' was 'not an Irish term'. His defence team called into question DNA evidence collected from the woman. Analysts found two male profiles but could not conclusively identify Mr Crosbie as the second male contributor. The defence also sought to discredit the woman's account citing 'gaps' in her memory, insisting she was inebriated and questioning her about psychiatric medication in cross examination. Mr Crosbie has been held at the Nashua Street jail in Boston since his arrest on March 16th, 2024.


Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Court of Appeal remits charges against allegedly unlicensed taximan to District Court
Charges against a Co Wexford man running an allegedly unlicensed taxi service − brought following a covert National Transport Authority (NTA) operation − will be remitted to the District Court following a Court of Appeal decision. In August 2022, an NTA enforcement officer – with assistance from An Garda Síochána – carried out a 'covert test purchase', posing as a passenger when availing of the man's allegedly unlawful taxi service. The man drove the NTA officer to a destination, before the latter identified himself. He recovered the money he'd used to pay his fare to keep as potential evidence. Charges were subsequently brought against the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver in the District Court. READ MORE These charges were dropped when a judge concluded that the NTA officer was, under the Taxi Regulation Act 2013, empowered only to take enforcement action against licensed operators – not unlicensed operators. The NTA officer accepted during the District Court trial that provisions for carrying out a test purchase or 'setting a trap' were not set out under legislation. The High Court upheld the District Court's decision following an appeal brought by the NTA. This was appealed to the Court of Appeal. In a judgment, Ms Justice Nuala Butler, on behalf of the three-judgment Court of Appeal, said a core issue in the case was the extent to which an investigator – ie, the NTA officer – could take steps in the course of their duties which did not have an explicit basis in law. In the Court of Appeal proceedings, the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver accepted that an enforcement officer may take steps in an investigation that are not explicitly set out in legislation, provided it does not go beyond what an ordinary person could do without legal powers. However, he maintained the District Court judge had been right to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that in conducting the covert test purchase, the investigator presented himself as exercising a power under law which he did not have. Ms Justice Butler noted that no statutory power is required by an investigator to do something an ordinary member of the public can do. 'If a member of the public is lawfully entitled to do something, then a person appointed under statute for a particular purpose is also entitled to do that thing unless in doing so he breaches a personal right of an affected person including a suspect in a criminal investigation,' she said. The judge said it was incorrect that a member of the public could not have carried out a covert test purchase. She said it was incorrect to assume that a covert test purchase could not be made by an investigator without expressed provision in law to do so. Ms Justice Butler concluded that the High Court was incorrect in upholding the District Court's decision to dismiss the charges against the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver. She said the NTA's appeal should be upheld, and the case be remitted back to the District Court.


Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Judge denies legal aid for three senior barristers to represent each of Sliabh Liag murderers
A judge has denied legal aid for a third senior barrister to represent each of the Sliabh Liag murderers Alan Vial and Nikita Burns in their bid to overturn their convictions, noting he had to have 'some regard to the public purse'. Vial and Burns, a former couple, were convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury last March of murdering Robert 'Robin' Wilkin whose body was thrown over the cliffs in Co Donegal almost three years ago. Vial (39), from Drumanoo Head, Killybegs and Burns (23), of Carrick, Co Donegal, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Wilkin in Co Donegal on June 25th, 2023. The trial heard the 66-year-old suffered at least two depressed fractures to his head before being put over Sliabh Liag, which ranks among Europe's tallest sea cliffs. READ MORE Vial's application for legal aid was one of eight before the Court of Appeal . Mr Justice John Edwards said he had considered matters in chambers and in Vial's case approved legal aid for two counsel. Defence barrister James P O'Brien told the court Vial had been represented by three counsel in the trial. He said the trial had been long and involved a significant amount of disclosure and asked that three counsel also be allocated for his client's appeal. [ Three friends left the Donegal pub at closing time. Eight days later, a body was pulled from the sea at Sliabh Liag Opens in new window ] Mr Justice Edwards said his briefing note had been for two counsel. He questioned whether three counsel were needed, going on to say he could not recall any case in the Court of Appeal where a party had been represented by more than two barristers. Joseph Mulrean, representing Burns, said he had a similar application to make for three counsel. Burns case was listed today for an application to extend the deadline for lodging her appeal against her conviction, which the court granted. 'What's so complex about this case that it requires three counsel as opposed to two?' Mr Justice Edwards asked. 'If there is some reason I'm open-minded about it but simply to maintain parity with the court below is not a good reason,' said the judge, going on to note: 'I do have to have some regard to the public purse.' He said the appeal hearing would be shorter than a trial and did not involve live witnesses or live exhibits. He noted transcripts are provided, legal submissions are prepared in advance and the appeal is usually presented by one counsel. Mr Mulrean said the case had involved a significant amount of documentary evidence and had been 'extremely exhibit heavy'. Mr Justice Edwards asked if it was the State's intention to have three counsel for the appeal and Emmet Nolan, for the Director of Prosecutions , confirmed it was not. The judge then told the defence lawyers he would only certify for two counsel. The Irish Coast Guard recovered Mr Wilkin's body from the sea eight days after he was thrown from the cliffs. Due to predator damage and decomposition, State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster was unable to identify a cause of death. She noted multiple fractures to Mr Wilkin's face but could not say which had been caused by the fall from the cliff and which related to a prior assault. However, the jury heard the two fractures to the back of his head were not consistent with a fall down a cliff, but were 'entirely consistent' with injuries that could have been caused by a bloody rock found by gardaí at the top of the cliffs. DNA testing showed blood and hairs on the rock were Mr Wilkin's. Each accused claimed the other used the rock to beat Mr Wilkin about the head before he was put over the cliffs. However, the prosecution argued they were part of a joint enterprise to cause serious injury to Mr Wilkin and therefore both guilty of murder.