In one of several cases this past week, a man was charged with causing the death of a 12-year-old boy
Belfast Courts stock image(Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
Northern Ireland’s courts were busy this week where in one of several cases heard, a man accused of causing the death of a boy in a hit-and-run collision in Co Down told police he had been drinking in two bars before the incident.
Also in the headlines from the courts over the past five days was the case of a man with over 100 criminal convictions, who learned that he will be sentenced this autumn for domestic abuse offences.
And a North Belfast man who accused his neighbour of having sex with his partner was jailed over a hammer-wielding incident.
Below is our weekly roundup of some of those who have been before the courts this week, beginning July 7, 2025.
Look out for:
- Man who killed pal then went to play pool jailed
- Man with 123 previous convictions to be sentenced for domestic abuse
- Sex offender told 17-year-old girl she looked like 70s film star
- Nurse unlawfully supplied botox and weight loss drugs fined
- Assault accused in court after woman left in critical condition
- Fatal hit and run accused “drinking in two bars” before crash, court told
- Sex offender offered man £500 for pics of children in school uniforms
- Naked woman found wrapped in stolen curtains after hammer incident, court told
Jason Murray(Image: PSNI)
Man who killed pal then went to play pool jailed
A 42-year old man who fatally attacked his friend in Portrush then left the scene to play pool in a nearby bar was handed a minimum eight-year prison sentence on Tuesday.
As relatives of Paul Rowlands sat in the public gallery of Belfast Crown Court, they heard Mr Justice O’Hara described how the 46-year old was beaten by Jason Murray and left to die in a car park. The 46-year old father-of-five was originally from Cambridge and had travelled to Northern Ireland a month prior to his death.
Murray, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry admitted unlawfully killing Mr Rowlands and the plea to manslaughter was accepted on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to mental abnormality.
Laganside Courts in Belfast (Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
Man with 123 previous convictions to be sentenced for domestic abuse
A Belfast man with over 100 criminal convictions will be sentenced this autumn for domestic abuse offences.
Dominic McGolddrick was re-arraigned at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday and admitted three offences committed last December.
With an address at Centenary House on Victoria Street, the 37-year old was charged with the non-fatal strangulation of a female on December 6, 2024.
When asked how he pleaded, McGolddrick replied “guilty.” He was also charged that on the same date he assaulted the female occasioning her actual bodily harm.
McGolddrick admitted this charge and a third charge of damaging a bedroom door and walls belonging to the same female on December 6, 2024.
Stock image of Belfast Glider (Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
Sex offender told 17-year-old girl she looked like 70s film star
A convicted sex offender allegedly defied a ban on contact with children by telling a 17-year-old girl she resembled a young Jane Fonda, a court heard on Tuesday.
Patrick Marks, 71, quizzed and compared the teenager to the movie star as part of two separate encounters on board Glider bus services in Belfast, a judge was told.
The pensioner was remanded into custody on new charges of breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO). Marks, of Comber Road on the outskirts of the city, is currently prohibited from unapproved association with anyone aged under 18.
Google Street View of Downpatrick Courthouse
Nurse unlawfully supplied botox and weight loss drugs fined
A registered nurse has been fined £8,000 after being found to have unlawfully supplied prescription medication, which included botox and weight loss drugs.
Nichola Hawes of Groomsport Road, Bangor, pleaded guilty to 25 charges at Downpatrick Magistrates Court on Wednesday and received the sentence for unlawfully possessing prescription medicines with intent to supply, supplying prescription medicines and fraud by false representation.
It followed a Department of Health Medicines Regulatory Group (MRG) investigation into medicines prescribing and supply activities at Nichola Hawes Aesthetics Clinic in Bangor, Co Down. The investigation found that between 2021 and 2022 prescription medicines were prescribed for people without their knowledge or consent.
Belfast Magistrates Court
Belfast assault accused in court after woman left in critical condition
A North Belfast man was remanded in custody on Thursday charged in connection with an assault which has left a woman in a critical condition in hospital.
Sammy Ward, 21, of Chester Manor, appeared in the dock of Belfast Magistrates’ Court to face a total of three charges. He is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to a female on Wednesday, July 8 this week.
Ward, dressed in a grey sweat top, is also accused of assaulting another female and causing criminal damage to the complainant’s television on July 8. Asked by the court clerk if he understood the charges, the defendant nodded his head in response.
Newtownards Magistrates’ Court (Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire)
Fatal hit and run accused “drinking in two bars” before crash, court told
A man accused of causing the death of a boy in a hit-and-run collision in Co Down told police he had been drinking in two bars before the incident, a court heard this week.
Newtownards Magistrates’ Court also heard that there is “significant anger” in Portaferry over the collision which killed 12-year-old Lucas Trainor.
Lucas was riding a scooter in the Strand area of the town on Tuesday evening when he was involved in a collision with a red Skoda Fabia. He died later from his injuries.
Peter Andrew Milligan, 51, of Ashmount Park in Portaferry, faced 11 charges when he appeared in the dock of the court on Friday using crutches.
He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving, failing to stop and failing to remain at the scene of an accident and failing to report it. Milligan also faced charges over driving without insurance and without a licence and of failing to provide a breath sample to police.
He was further charged with failing to stop, failing to remain at the scene and failure to report relating to a second crash which occurred shortly after the collision in which Lucas died.
Sex offender offered man £500 for pics of children in school uniforms
A 51-year-old man who offered to pay another resident at an offenders hostel for indecent images of young children was jailed on Friday for five months.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard the offence was committed the day after Michael O’Connor received a three-year probation order at the city’s Crown Court for similar offending.
O’Connor, of Dismas House on Belfast’s Ormeau Road, had previously pleaded guilty to an offence of encouraging another person to commit an offence, namely the distribution of or showing an indecent photograph of a child to another person.
Stock image of Laganside court building in Belfast (Image: Belfast Live )
Naked woman found wrapped in stolen curtains after hammer incident, court told
A North Belfast man who accused his neighbour of having sex with his partner was jailed on Friday over a hammer-wielding incident.
Jonathan Beggs stole curtains from his neighbour’s bedroom window and wrapped his naked ex-partner in them before she was found in his front garden during last month’s incident, a court heard.
Beggs, 34, of Cultra Street, had previously entered guilty pleas to criminal damage, attempted criminal damage, common assault, possessing an offensive weapon and theft.
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