Here are some of the cases that appeared in courts around Northern Ireland this week, December 1-5
8 cases before Northern Ireland courts this week:
- A man appeared in court on Monday after being charged with a number of offences following an incident that left a police officer with a serious hand injury. Police were called to reports of an “aggresive male” in the Galliagh Park area of Derry on Saturday, November 29, with a man later being arrested. Following the arrest, it was alleged that the man and a police officer were involved in an incident that left the officer with a serious hand injury that required hospital treatment.
- A woman was stabbed twice and struck to the head with a baseball bat after her allegedly abusive partner became angry over drugs. On Monday, Coleraine Magistrates Court also heard the victim’s wrist was fractured and her eye was so badly swollen, she is unable to see out of it. Appearing in the dock charged with attempted murder and a number of other offences, 24-year-old Garion Hanna confirmed his identity and that he understood the charges, many of them said to be aggravated due to domestic abuse.
- A judge rejected a legal bid to remove a Palestinian flag that was erected on Belfast City Hall on Tuesday. The flag was raised after midnight on Tuesday after councillors voted for the move during a meeting on Monday evening. It was due to fly for one day. The applicant had sought an interim injunction that would have required the flag to be taken down pending a fuller court hearing on whether the council followed correct procedures in how the vote was held.
- On Tuesday, a serial shop thief was jailed for 18 months for a spate of burglaries on businesses in Belfast. Stephen Patrick David Crumley, of Donegall Avenue in Belfast, previously pleaded guilty to seven counts of burglary and one of attempted burglary with intent to steal. The 34-year-old further admitted three counts of fraud by false representation and possessing a Class C drug, namely Tramadol.
- A father-of-four who subjected his partner to a “series of violent acts” including non-fatal strangulation was handed a six-year sentence on Wednesday. Damien McGuinness, who blamed his young son for causing some of the injuries to his now-ex partner, was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court by Judge Gordon Kerr KC. From Mill Road in Newtownabbey, the 36-year old was convicted by a jury earlier this year of ten offences committed against the woman over a period from May 23, 2025 to December 9, 2024.
- A North Belfast man who robbed a convenience store of cash and cigarettes while armed with an imitation firearm was jailed for 16 months on Thursday. Ciaran Joseph Crilly (31), of Cliftonville Avenue, previously pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and possessing a Class C drug. A charge of possessing a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence was left on the court books in the usual terms. Belfast Crown Court heard that on July 21, 2024, at around 6.20 pm, a female member of staff at the Co-op store on the Antrim Road was approached by the defendant while she was serving customers at a till.
- An East Belfast man was remanded in custody on Friday to be sentenced next week for leaving crude pipe devices at a GAA ground. John Wilson (59), of Lower Braniel Road, was found guilty by unanimous verdict in September of this year by a jury at Belfast Crown Court of possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances. The 11-member jury panel also unanimously found him guilty of three counts of attempting to intimidate members of the East Belfast GAA Club “unlawfully by force, threats, or menaces” from attending or playing sports at Henry Jones Playing Fields in east Belfast.
- A TUV member may not be legally entitled to challenge Belfast City Council ’s process for reconsidering decisions about an Irish language strategy and flying the Palestinian flag, it was claimed in the High Court on Friday. Lawyers for the local authority raised issues over Ann McClure’s right as an unelected member of the public to take action over its standing orders. The potential dispute emerged as a judge listed proceedings brought against the Council’s handling of call-in procedures in key and controversial votes for hearing in January.
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