05/04/2016 BBC Newsline

This is BBC Newsline and these are the headlines

Opinion divided - some say a woman who took abortion pills,

bought online, should have been sent to prison.

Others say she should not have faced trial.

I think the law must be applied in those cases and if that means a jail

sentence, that must be the case. Our woman anywhere else in the UK would

not be prosecuted, a woman with the money to travel to England would not

be prosecuted. An abuse inquiry is told that

a child was hit on the head with a spoon in a state-run

hospital in Lisburn. A school in Londonderry is damaged

in a suspected arson attack. Claims of cronyism in the SDLP

as two Tyrone councillors leave the party to contest the Assembly

election as independents. A group of students,

some with hypothermia, It's the most famous drive in sport,

Magnolia Lane, the entry to Augusta National club. Join me for the first

of my special reports from the masters.

And we had a few showers today but nothing like

I'll have your full weather forecast shortly.

The issue of abortion in Northern Ireland is firmly

A woman who admitted taking illegal abortion pills to induce

a miscarriage was yesterday given a three-month

The anti-abortion group Precious Life says the sentence was

The BBC understands, for that to happen, a decision has

to be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Our Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly reports.

Yesterday's Crown Court judgment is significant as it was the first

time in Northern Ireland that a person was convicted

for purchasing drugs online to terminate a pregnancy.

The judge had the power to imprison the woman

but instead he chose not to - a decision that's been criticised

Others, however, believe the case should never have got

But the case did reach court, where the story emerged

of a 19-year-old woman who'd bought drugs over the internet

as she couldn't afford to travel to England for an abortion.

The court heard how she induced her own miscarriage in July 2014

when she was between ten and 12 weeks pregnant.

For some, the suspended sentence was too light.

I believe if a crime is committed, the judge must

I don't believe he has, and in cases where an illegal

abortion has taken place, even in other parts of the UK,

women have been prosecuted and if that means a prison

The case raises many issues, including how the law differs

between England and Northern Ireland and how the woman now

It has implications for her future employment, her future education

opportunities and travel to some countries would be prohibited

with having a conviction on her record.

While this woman is the first to be convicted, she's certainly not

the first to import abortion pills into Northern Ireland.

In fact, over 200 women here say they want to be arrested

after signing a letter to the government in

which they admit to having used or purchased illegal abortion pills.

It wrong, we think, for the state to go after isolated woman like that

when there is a movement of people, loads of us who are helped in women

get access to these pills, so it is like they are picking on the

weakest. According to Amnesty International,

the woman is now a convicted It seems right based on yesterday's

judgment that it is a criminal offence to be a woman in Northern

Ireland. A woman anywhere else in the UK would not be prosecuted, a

woman with the money to travel to England would not be prosecuted.

The drugs imported by the woman are similar to those used by hospitals

According to Precious Life, others are also guilty of a crime.

I am greatly concerned she sought advice from the wrong people, she

contacted an abortion centre in the UK who advised her how to purchase

illegal drugs. She was very much on her own. I'm concerned that women in

Northern Ireland are not being informed and given the information

to help them through their situations.

The Public Prosecution Service has insisted it was in the public

interest to bring a case against a woman found guilty

of buying drugs online to abort her unborn child.

The police have been given extra time to question a 36-year-old man

in connection with the murder of a woman in Lurgan.

Laura Marshall, who was 31, was found dead at her third-floor

flat in an apartment block on Victoria Street

A new file containing evidence against the child killer

Robert Black has been given to prosecutors.

Black, who died in Maghaberry prison in January, killed four young girls,

including Jennifer Cardy, who was abducted near her home

This latest development concerns a 13-year-old,

The police there want prosecutors to confirm he should also have been

charged with killing the teenager in 1978.

An inquiry has been listening to more shocking evidence

about the abuse suffered by children in a state-run hospital.

A pensioner recalled how as a two-year-old he was beaten

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, sitting in Banbridge,

was focussing on Lissue House in Lisburn today.

Our reporter Kevin Sharkey was there for BBC Newsline.

The toddler celebrated his second birthday in Lissue.

Until today, decades later and in a different century,

he hadn't revealed publically what happened to him.

The testimony heard today was not different from other evidence heard

at this inquiry in the past two years. It was about the abuse of a

toddler and today the man, now in his 60s, came to the inquiry to say

how he felt cold and always afraid as a child patient at Lissue.

He described how a nurse used a soup spoon to hit him on the forehead

and chin in an effort to to get him to eat food.

The pensioner told the Inquiry that he's suffered from an eating

disorder all his life as a result of the alleged abuse.

Another witness recalled another era at Lissue - the 1970s.

The woman, now in her 40s, said she was a five-year-old

She described staff at the hosptial as "very physical and rough".

The woman told the inquiry there were some difficult children in care

at Lissue but she said there was no need for a staff to be treating

children around by their hair with their arms twisted around her back.

-- their backs. Still to come on the

programme before 7pm: New voters in May's

Assembly election - we ask the Good Friday Agreement

generation what they think The principal of a primary school

targeted in a suspected arson attack has asked parents to speak

to their children about going It's understood the fire in Creggan

in Londonderry last night was started when building materials

were set alight on the roof. which were being used to re-roof

the block, were set alight. The Fire Service, which had four

appliances in attendance, managed to contain the blaze

and save the classrooms It houses three classrooms,

and there are resource rooms and an Apple Mac suite

and a computer suite on that block. It would have been

devastating to the school. We couldn't have functioned

without it. So we are very critical indeed this

morning that we are still So we are very critical indeed this

and nowhere is out of balance. -- bounce.

The damage has been confined to the materials which are now off

Ironically the governors had been meeting last night to discuss how

to celebrate the school's 60th anniversary next year.

The principal said she feared at one stage the school

The Bishop of Derry said he was saddened at the damage

when he visited Holy Child to offer his support

have closed the curtains of many classrooms to ensure the pupils

are not distracted by what is happening outside.

It's important that the school can continue as long as possible to be a

centre of town, dependability and consistency so the opportunities of

the pupils can be developed in their classrooms and the communities.

The principal says there is an ongoing problem with youths

entering the premises and she has urged parents to speak

to their children and warn them of the dangers and tell them to be

Still to come on the programme before 7pm:

We'll see the thrilling scenery and the driving challenge of this

One of the students rescued from the Mourne Mountains last night

was suffering from severe hypothermia and

She was among a group taking part in a Duke

of Edinburgh Gold Award trip when weather

Colletta Smith was in Newcastle earlier this evening and spoke

to some of the team involved in the rescue.

It was about this time yesterday evening that a group of young people

from Dungannon got into trouble went up the Mourne Mountains on a

practice run for their good Duke of Edinburgh award. Very different

weather from today. One of the girls from the Royal School Dungannon

started to get cold. They made the call to emergency services. On the

other end of that call with these two gentlemen. It was just after 7pm

that you got that call. It was about 7:30pm yesterday and we started to

make our way down to base to respond and get onto the hill. But last

night the young people did all the right things. It was very

impressive, the kids who were up there had put up a tent when they

realised their classmate was not well and needed help. They got

wrapped up and stayed with her and organised themselves so we could

find them easily, so they deserve credit for a job. What condition was

she in? What does hypothermia mean? This girl was cold, she was going in

and out of consciousness, so her skin was cold, it was hard to feel

warmth around the girl, so that would be the sort of thing we are

seeing, so we have to get to ride and new clothes and bring her body

temperature gradually back up again. Thank you for joining us. Thankfully

a happy ending to yesterday's story and a relief not only for the young

people but to the parents waiting that these gentlemen were ready and

waiting to go up the mountain. The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has

rejected criticism from two of his councillors that the party

engaged in cronyism when it came to candidate selection

for the Assembly election. The two councillors in West Tyrone

have decided to fight the election in May

as independent social democrats. This report from our political

editor, Mark Devenport. The next STS -- SDLP MLA for West

Tyrone. Daniel McCrossan got a rousing

reception from SDLP members today, but his selection as the party's

only candidate in West Tyrone hasn't Local councillors Patsy Kelly

and Josephine Deehan have quit the SDLP, accusing it of promoting

career politicians and not There is systemic failure

within the SDLP in West Tyrone. I emphasise I can only refer

to events in West Tyrone, where I have been

a councillor for many years. There is systemic

failure, lack of transparency and good governance,

and that does not sit easily with my conscience and that is why

I must leave at this juncture. The rows in West Tyrone date back

to before Colum Eastwood's election as SDLP leader, but his inability

to resolve the dispute has left him Mr Eastwood has responded by

rejecting allegations of cronyism. I think what this is about is

an election and what we're about is supporting

the candidate that has the support of our members in West Tyrone,

has the support of the leadership and stands alongside

many other talented candidates, so we

are looking forward Arguments over candidate selection

aren't unique to the SDLP - Omagh councillor Sorcha McAnespy

handed in her nomination papers today after quitting

Sinn Fein last week. She accused her old party

of sidelining her and handing They denied that and expressed

their disappointment. Whoever is right, the splintering

of the two main nationalist parties will make for quite a long ballot

paper in West Tyrone. Next month's Assembly election

will see a huge turnover in faces Some are calling it

the changing of the guard. But is it a case of the more things

change the more they stay the same? Our political correspondent

Gareth Gordon has been speaking to first-time voters

who are also politics students, as well as a few old hands

from bygone Assembly days. These are the children of the

Belfast agreement, sixth form politics students from Belfast Royal

Academy and Dominican College, who were born in 1998, around the same

time as the deal. The Assembly election will be their first chance

to pass judgment. People mightn't watch or be interested in debates in

Stormont because it seems that a bunch of old white conservative men

shouting at each other when there is a lot going on beneath that that

young people need to find out about. They seem to manufacture crises for

themselves, every other week we hear about a crisis and I don't think the

public understands why they are making a big deal out of it. I would

liked to be more representative of people of the North, more young

people, more women, more ethnic minorities rather than the same

faces you have seen for 30 years. We have made great progress from the

Troubles and from the difficult background we came from, then nature

of the Executive is remarkable that you have opposing parties, even if

at times they don't get on, it is still remarkable. But 18 years on,

is that enough? The next Assembly will look very different but will

that change merely be cosmetic? We asked two members of the class of 98

what they think. Seamus close and Dermot Nesbitt are veterans of the

first Assembly after the agreement, but Seamus a new alteration is not

necessarily mean that politics. Politicians are elected in 2016, the

majority will have less baggage than those of 1998 but you have to

remember that the ones who did did deals were the ones that had gone

through the hard graft of the 1970s and 80s and were able to vary the

past and continue to work and tried to bring things to gather for the

people of Northern Ireland. But Dermot Nesbitt says it's time to

stop looking back. 18 years after the Second World War, it was

Beatlemania, I was a teenager and to meet the award didn't exist. We had

moved on from work in 1963, the Beatles often played in Hamburg, a

town firebombed by the British people, so I can understand to say

here we are. 18 years later and we are still arguing over the same old,

and it is time politicians of all parties moved on. Next month the

children of the Belfast agreement and everyone else will start to find

out if that can really happen. Next sport, and in the United States

this week we have the first major of the golfing season -

the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. Gavin Andrews is here and it's one

of the big contests. Yes, the prize for the champion

on Sunday is a famous green jacket. No Irish golfer has ever been able

to win one but this week in Georgia, Rory McIlroy

will try and change that. He'll play alongside

Germany's Martin Kaymer and American Bill Haass

in the opening two rounds, and as Stephen Watson reports,

a place in golfing history It's the only one of the sport's for

major tournament is missing from his CV, that Masters is the tournament

Rory McIlroy would like to win. His name will forever be etched in

golfing record books with victory and he thinks he is prepared. I

feared like I am a year on from the hype that surrounded me last year in

Augusta so I will hopefully know how to deal with it after.

Augusta so I will hopefully know how experience will help me this year

because every year that I haven't won a green jacket, the pressure

will build and build, so hopefully this year I can get this little

monkey off my back and see what happens. If you could slip on that

dream Jacquard, would that mean you could retire happily? Yes, if I

could win the green jacket and only be the sixth letter in golf to win a

grand slam, I would retire knowing I could join the elite. He would be a

grand slam, I would retire knowing I popular champion. He has come close

to winning the Masters before. In 2011 he blew a four shot final round

lead -- lead but believes it is all part of the learning curve. I think

everyone in sport if you look back we lose much more than we win, and

the rock under tournament I didn't finish off but it all evens out at

the end of the day, all those missed opportunities were a lesson that

helped me win down the line. And his preparations got off to a

spectacular start with a hole in one at the 16th during practice. A nice

souvenir for some local golf fans. Rory is an awesome player, a very

classy player, so it is pretty special. Maybe an omen this week, he

could slip on the green jacket? It would be nice for him to get one. If

practice rounds aren't indicator of form, then Rory McIlroy is shaping

up nicely for the tournament. He is playing well, has had luck on his

side and that might have perfect recipe for Masters success.

In local football, the race for a lucrative Europa League place

continues for Cliftonville away to Carrick Rangers in

Meanwhile Ballymena United boss David Jeffrey says his side's trip

to third-place Glenavon is crucial in their bid to avoid relegation.

They are looking very much ready for that special place, so nip and tuck

all over the place. Anyone who thinks the league is over, not a

long talk, so we have to concentrate on ourselves and give the best to

try and get something out of the game on Tuesday.

And we'll have the results on our late bulletin.

A win tonight will see Glasgow Rangers return

to the Scottish Premier League next season after a four-year absence.

The club went into administration in 2012, and were moved

Since then, they've been climbing back up and need three points

at home to Dumbarton to clinch the championship title and take

They could even afford to lose, if third-placed Hibernian fail

to beat Livingston in one of tonight's other matches.

The Circuit of Ireland Rally begins this Thursday,

Last year it attracted over 80,000 spectators and a global TV

The event includes stages around Torr Head and Glendun

in North Antrim as well as a detour through the iconic Dark Hedges.

This year at this Circuit of Ireland Rally features a strong entry list,

we electing its role in the calendar. It is part of the European

Rally championship, something we have not had before and that brings

a lot of people, 55 different teams came last year, most from outside

Northern Ireland. The combination of driving challenge and spectacular

roads is an attraction for drivers. It must be one of the best routes in

the world, it is like a roller-coaster on the coast and the

roads are some of the best in the world. A great welcome, beautiful

location, it is classic. By bringing it to the Dark Hedges, no Rally goes

to the Dark Hedges but with 14 million viewers around the world,

this is a good chance to show a large portion of Northern Ireland.

It is a wonderful chance so we are taking it. The qualifying stage will

be aced in Antrim Castle Gardens on Thursday with a ceremonial start

endosperm that evening. For the competitors and spectators,

all eyes are now on the weather. Barra Best is the best man to tell

us about that weather. How is it looking? Unfortunately not

the best news, we have more unsettled weather by the end of the

week. Today we had a fuchsia honours, tomorrow we will have many

more thanks to low pressure from the Atlantique. It will bring rain in

the early hours followed by scattered showers and temperatures

will fall low enough that we could see sleet and snow over the hills,

so tomorrow will have eight cold start and will stay unsettled, we

can expect hefty showers during the day. A few showers could come with

hail, thunder and lightning, there will be some sunny caps but they

will be well spaced out with this showers coming in on a

north-westerly wind which will feel cold. We are looking at highs of

seven or eight but if you catch those showers it will feel colder

than that. If you are travelling tomorrow, most of the unsettled

conditions will be across Ireland, Scotland into Northern England and

Wales, elsewhere South and East drier. The colder the further north

we are with chilly winds which will continue to drive scattered showers

into tomorrow evening, some will be heavy, perhaps with a wintry mix on

high ground. Overnight into Thursday they will merge and we expect more

rain in the early hours and temperatures falling close to

freezing, so we could see sleet and snow on high ground and the icy on

Thursday morning. For the start of the Circuit of Ireland on Thursday

it will be cloudy, north-westerly winds are unlikely to bring

scattered showers and some will be heavy but not as many showers as

tomorrow. On Friday with low pressure moving in and we expect

more rain, widespread and some will be heavy, affecting the rally and as

we look toward Saturday it is set to stay unsettled. The only good news

is that at the time being Sunday looks like the dry state of all. We

will keep you up to date. And little ray of sunshine at the end of the

week. Our late summary is at 10:30pm.You

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