:00:16. > :00:24.Good evening, the headlines on BBC Newsline.
:00:25. > :00:29.The trial of the three men accused of abusing and two children reaches
:00:30. > :00:36.its final stages. The controversial online drinking game which has led
:00:37. > :00:40.to the death of a teenager. A report gets to the bottom of who
:00:41. > :00:46.hit an MLA's wife during trouble in Belfast.
:00:47. > :00:48.Also on the programme this evening: We'll be hearing from the two local
:00:49. > :00:54.singers hitting all the right notes. Answering Ireland's call. We hear
:00:55. > :01:00.from the Uslter Rugby player who's celebrating a dream Six Nations
:01:01. > :01:03.debut. And although the weather will turn
:01:04. > :01:13.calmer tonight more stormy weather is expected later this week.
:01:14. > :01:16.I'll be back with a full forecast. The trial of three men accused of
:01:17. > :01:19.seriously sexually abusing two children during the 1990s has begun
:01:20. > :01:27.hearing closing arguments from lawyers. The alleged victims are a
:01:28. > :01:30.brother and sister. The men on trial are their father, uncle and a family
:01:31. > :01:41.friend who face a total of 56 charges including rate, gross
:01:42. > :01:45.indecency and cruelty. This trial is now in its third
:01:46. > :01:49.week, and today, the jury were told they would not be presented with any
:01:50. > :01:56.more evidence. A Order for the execution reminded -- a loner for
:01:57. > :02:02.the prosecution reminded the jury about the abuse they had heard
:02:03. > :02:07.about, including drunken parties with David decide to would abuse a
:02:08. > :02:12.child first, and forcing a child to watch -- drunken parties, in and
:02:13. > :02:23.parties to decide who would abuse a child first, and forcing a child to
:02:24. > :02:27.watch themselves being abused. The prosecution also told the jury
:02:28. > :02:32.that the fact that two of the men had admitted offences against their
:02:33. > :02:37.own sister in the 70s and 80s shows a propensity to commit the crimes
:02:38. > :02:43.they are charged with. A defence barrister for the man described as a
:02:44. > :02:45.family friend summed it up, and was accused of offences connected to the
:02:46. > :02:57.female victim. One victim said that the jury must
:02:58. > :03:03.consider the absence of evidence in this case. -- case. There is no
:03:04. > :03:07.evidence of serious sexual assaults, and the alleged victim cannot abide
:03:08. > :03:13.descriptions of the other men involved. She said that in the
:03:14. > :03:17.sandbox but -- explanation is that people do not exist, the parties did
:03:18. > :03:25.not happen. The jury will be considering a verdict on Wednesday.
:03:26. > :03:29.The father of a young man who died after taking part in a drinking game
:03:30. > :03:32.in the Republic has pleaded with others not to take the dare. The new
:03:33. > :03:35.social media phenomenon involves people drinking a concoction of
:03:36. > :03:38.alcohol and then nominating a friend to go one better. The death at the
:03:39. > :03:51.weekend has prompted a similar internet site based here to change
:03:52. > :03:54.its content. We are trying the challenge. I will
:03:55. > :04:00.go first. One of the first challenges and the local
:04:01. > :04:03.Neknomination site. This concoction only contained several types of
:04:04. > :04:07.drink, but even most Royal are some of the things added to either
:04:08. > :04:11.drinks. When news came through of the death of a young man, the
:04:12. > :04:16.websites came under pressure. The father of this eating your break
:04:17. > :04:20.said he fell into the water after carrying out a stand connected to
:04:21. > :04:25.the Neknomination site to read out -- based in the Republic. I am
:04:26. > :04:32.meeting for youngsters to think of the things they are reading. It cost
:04:33. > :04:35.my son his life. The whole family is devastated and our lives will never
:04:36. > :04:41.be the same again. I hope this message is heated, because for us,
:04:42. > :04:44.life is virtually over. And the tragedy has prompted those running
:04:45. > :04:50.and similar sites north of the border to have everything. It was
:04:51. > :04:55.set up last Tuesday, and by the weekend, it had 11,000 followers.
:04:56. > :04:59.Over the weekend, those running the sites debated whether or not to keep
:05:00. > :05:03.it going, and this morning, they decided to shut them down. In a
:05:04. > :05:05.statement, one of the people running it said, and videos would be
:05:06. > :05:20.removed. The fact that people are often
:05:21. > :05:24.tricking alone and the potential of the mixtures that they are consuming
:05:25. > :05:31.has been ringing alarm else. We have seen a full bottle of tequila being
:05:32. > :05:35.drink -- drink with a pint of milk. We have seen major oil being added
:05:36. > :05:42.to the nominations. People need to be very well or -- very aware that
:05:43. > :05:47.this is not for consumptions by humans. Social media experts have
:05:48. > :05:51.also expressed concerns stop maybe this is being seen as a challenge to
:05:52. > :05:55.do something more dramatic to get the most likes or views, and that
:05:56. > :06:01.can be part of the challenge, and that can add to the threat. We have
:06:02. > :06:09.got to be more extreme in what we do. The game even made it seem to
:06:10. > :06:13.this bar at the weekend. -- the game even made it into this bar at the
:06:14. > :06:16.weekend. The bar said they have removed this video from the Facebook
:06:17. > :06:21.page. Facebook said that they want to provide a platform for people to
:06:22. > :06:25.share content freely, but they do not want to promote anything that is
:06:26. > :06:28.harmful. The police are investigating reports
:06:29. > :06:31.that shots were fired at a house in north Belfast last night. It
:06:32. > :06:34.happened in the Oldpark area just before seven o'clock. No-one was
:06:35. > :06:47.injured. Police have appealed for information.
:06:48. > :06:50.You're watching BBC Newsline and still to come: The row over a
:06:51. > :06:57.Londonderry school closure that some parents say could impact on the
:06:58. > :07:00.whole city. An investigation into allegations by an MLA that a police
:07:01. > :07:03.officer assaulted his wife has concluded that the Ulster Unionist
:07:04. > :07:06.politician accidentally hit her himself. Michael Copeland had
:07:07. > :07:15.accused a police officer of hitting his wife with a baton during a
:07:16. > :07:20.loyalist protest last August. 26 officers were hurt when loyalists
:07:21. > :07:25.attacked police last August. They gathered to demonstrate against a
:07:26. > :07:32.Republican parade that had been due to march along Royal Avenue. Police
:07:33. > :07:35.came under sustained attack. One MLA leader claimed his wife, daughter
:07:36. > :07:42.and himself had been attacked by a police officer. I was kicked
:07:43. > :07:49.underneath a police shield him I was pushed with a police shield, and my
:07:50. > :07:55.daughter was struck with a baton. My wife was struck as well. I went
:07:56. > :07:59.straight to strengthen and they told me I had to talk to the police and
:08:00. > :08:07.that's men and I said I wanted to make a complaint. -- ombudsman.
:08:08. > :08:14.Investigators asked the PSNI for video footage that was taken of the
:08:15. > :08:17.protest. My understanding is that the footage shows Michael Copeland
:08:18. > :08:21.standing with his back towards the police officers and he appears to be
:08:22. > :08:26.urging members of the crowd to stop attacking the police, but a
:08:27. > :08:31.protester lunges forward. An officer is seen to strike out with his
:08:32. > :08:35.baton, and Michael Copeland appears to take evasive action, ducking and
:08:36. > :08:39.swinging his bow, and as he does so, accidentally hitting his wife on the
:08:40. > :08:47.back of the head. Either appears to realise what has happened.
:08:48. > :08:51.-- neither. Michael Copeland told the BBD -- BBC today that he did not
:08:52. > :08:59.want to comment until the report was published. The PSNI also declined to
:09:00. > :09:02.comment. A call at the weekend for
:09:03. > :09:05.protestants to shun the Irish language have met with opposition
:09:06. > :09:09.from those involved in promoting and speaking it along with the SDLP and
:09:10. > :09:12.Sinn Fein. Belfast's leading Orangeman, George Chittick claimed
:09:13. > :09:14.the Irish language is being used for political purposes by republicans.
:09:15. > :09:20.Today the Grand Lodge issued a statement stressing it had no
:09:21. > :09:28.official policy on the language. This class is taking place in a
:09:29. > :09:33.dairy centre. It is recently expanding into a Presbyterian church
:09:34. > :09:44.next door, and Protestants are among those attending the Irish language
:09:45. > :09:48.classes. There are quite a few people in the community who are
:09:49. > :09:54.learning Irish at this minute in time. All of this flies in the face
:09:55. > :10:00.of the Orange County of Belfast, after remarks made in North Belfast
:10:01. > :10:06.during protests at the weekend. I believe it is part of the public
:10:07. > :10:12.agenda. Eventually, they will try to make it the same as English, and you
:10:13. > :10:17.will not be able to get a job. As far as I am concerned, there are a
:10:18. > :10:24.lot of people wanting money and they will do anything for it.
:10:25. > :10:28.This classroom is used for teaching the Irish language to people of all
:10:29. > :10:35.traditions and all ages. But this classroom is different in that it is
:10:36. > :10:38.in the heart of Loyalist East Belfast. The people who run the
:10:39. > :10:44.eight Irish classes a week at this centre believe the remarks were
:10:45. > :10:49.directed at them. You know, the sort of ironic thing is we have had a lot
:10:50. > :10:53.more interest. We are all over the newspapers and people can see quite
:10:54. > :10:59.plainly how the Irish thing which is linked to the Orange Order, and
:11:00. > :11:05.people have been contacting me. -- Irish language. There are people who
:11:06. > :11:14.are interested and they don't want people telling them what language
:11:15. > :11:20.they can learn. In a statement, the grounds that the grand Orange Lodge
:11:21. > :11:28.said that such a decision was a matter of individual conscience. The
:11:29. > :11:31.party has denied that Republicans were using the language for
:11:32. > :11:39.political gain. The learning Irish is pro-choice -- is their choice.
:11:40. > :11:44.People received the education through the medium of Irish. Are you
:11:45. > :11:47.saying those are people making political statements? In the wake of
:11:48. > :11:54.the latest dispute, the learning process goes on.
:11:55. > :11:57.The Education Minister has praised pupils at a school in North Belfast
:11:58. > :12:01.for supporting a teacher who faced abuse on social media sites. The
:12:02. > :12:05.teacher at the Boys Model School was too fearful to take her class.
:12:06. > :12:08.School governors and Education Board officials have been meeting to
:12:09. > :12:13.discuss the case of Catherine Seeley, who is also a Sinn Fein
:12:14. > :12:20.councillor. 25-year-old Catherine on the became a counsellor last month
:12:21. > :12:23.for Sinn Fein, but then it became known that she was teaching at the
:12:24. > :12:29.Boys Model School in North Belfast am a she had a political baptism of
:12:30. > :12:33.fire. Below littlest victims campaign spokesperson said that
:12:34. > :12:39.anyone who thought the it was justified had no business teaching
:12:40. > :12:46.Protestant peoples. Catherine was too scared to go back to school. Any
:12:47. > :12:51.information or any threat to this teacher, if you look ahead to what
:12:52. > :12:56.we really mean by a shared future, which we feel passionately about, it
:12:57. > :13:00.means there will be no normals, so a teacher from one traditional
:13:01. > :13:03.community working in a school in another traditional community will
:13:04. > :13:10.not be unusual, will not be noteworthy. I think the majority,
:13:11. > :13:13.the leadership shown by many of the people in the Boys Model School is
:13:14. > :13:19.not affected by the small minority of those people who have read a hate
:13:20. > :13:22.campaign against the teacher. Catherine is perfectly entitled to
:13:23. > :13:27.teach in whichever school she is appointed to. She has been a very
:13:28. > :13:30.good teacher by all accounts and has dedicated her career to improving
:13:31. > :13:35.the lives of young people and she should be allowed to continue to do
:13:36. > :13:39.so. The DUP said no-one in public life should be subjected to threats,
:13:40. > :13:44.but a party spokesman added that parents had expressed concerns about
:13:45. > :13:50.their teacher -- the students being taught by someone who participated
:13:51. > :13:53.in the commemoration of IRA terrorists. Members and school
:13:54. > :14:02.governors were meeting with education officials this afternoon
:14:03. > :14:04.to discuss the case. Parents of children at a secondary school
:14:05. > :14:12.earmarked for closure say Londonderry is in danger of becoming
:14:13. > :14:15.polarised if the move goes ahead. The catholic school is in the
:14:16. > :14:18.Waterside. Parents claim its demise would result in Protestants being
:14:19. > :14:20.taught mainly on the Waterside and Catholics largely on the cityside.
:14:21. > :15:05.Our North-West reporter, Keiron Tourish has the story. It just
:15:06. > :15:15.doesn't work. Today, a former STL a member... Within the next year we
:15:16. > :15:21.are going to have young students and young pupils from a Protestant
:15:22. > :15:28.community being taught in Waterside. I do not think that is what we want
:15:29. > :15:35.to do going forward. Some parents agree it will potentially polarise
:15:36. > :15:40.secondary education in the city. Our school is going to close. We are the
:15:41. > :15:45.only secondary with education. If that happens it will divide our
:15:46. > :15:52.city. We are not talking about a shared city any more. The statutory
:15:53. > :15:57.consultation period will allow people the chance to submit their
:15:58. > :16:01.views. The minister will then decide on its future. The department says
:16:02. > :16:08.it is not appropriate for him to comment on the proposal now. Parents
:16:09. > :16:12.of pupils at this college say that although the signs look ominous
:16:13. > :16:15.their campaign to keep the school open will continue. There's plenty
:16:16. > :16:18.to come on the programme including Cecilia Daly with the weather which
:16:19. > :16:30.has been causing some problems, especially in parts of County Down.
:16:31. > :16:33.Believe it or not, this is a road. For a second year running local
:16:34. > :16:39.singers have been making their mark on BBC One's talent contest The
:16:40. > :16:42.Voice UK. Last year you may remember Andrea Begley from Pomeroy was the
:16:43. > :16:54.overall winner with Leah McFall a finallist. Andy West reports on
:16:55. > :17:07.Saturday's show. It is all about the boys on The Voice. This young mother
:17:08. > :17:12.was the first to impress. A unique voice that had all four coaches
:17:13. > :17:21.battling to get her in the team but it was Kylie who struck lucky. She
:17:22. > :17:25.was really nice, I have never met anyone so laid back but so energetic
:17:26. > :17:31.at the same time. She is constantly moving about but is very chilled
:17:32. > :17:43.out. And this young women had more talent in store. In the form of
:17:44. > :17:53.16-year-old Rachel from Limavady. Tom Jones, Kylie and Ricky Wilson
:17:54. > :17:58.wanted her. As young as you are, you have already found yourself. Joint
:17:59. > :18:05.my team and you will have the lot of fun. I'm going to go with Kylie. I
:18:06. > :18:11.could not ask for anything better, getting to sing in front of icons
:18:12. > :18:17.and getting to work with an icon, Kylie Minogue. It is surreal. That
:18:18. > :18:27.put the two girls in the same team meaning the have to go head-to-head
:18:28. > :18:30.in the finals. Good luck to both. Sporting stars next and Stephen
:18:31. > :18:34.Watson who know a connection between The Voice and Ulster Rugby. Don't
:18:35. > :18:36.tell me one of the team is auditioning? Paddy Jackson's a
:18:37. > :18:40.pretty good singer. Rachel O'Connor, now being mentored by Kylie Minogue,
:18:41. > :18:47.is the sister of Niall O'Connor who used to play for the Ulster rugby
:18:48. > :18:56.team. Niall now plays for Jersey. He was known to belt out a tune or two
:18:57. > :19:00.as well. The Irish rugby guys put on a great performance at the weekend.
:19:01. > :19:07.It did take them a while to get going but they turned in a good
:19:08. > :19:11.performance. Andrew Trimble scored a try in the 28-6 win and for Dan
:19:12. > :19:29.Tuohy, a late replacement for captain Paul O'Connell, it was rain
:19:30. > :19:34.debut. Gavin Andrews was in Dublin. This man woke up on the morning of
:19:35. > :19:42.his six Nations debut to some interesting news. I thought he was
:19:43. > :19:51.joking but then the laughing stopped. I did my preparation all
:19:52. > :19:56.week. I've finally got my first cap. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an
:19:57. > :20:03.amazing experience. It is just great to get the win to a great weekend.
:20:04. > :20:13.It sets us up nicely for the next round. Andrew Trimble also caught
:20:14. > :20:17.the eye. It was good we took on three phases. It took us have an
:20:18. > :20:22.hour to get into the game but whenever we did I felt we really got
:20:23. > :20:28.on top of them. We got the try before half-time which I think was
:20:29. > :20:33.pretty telling for us. If Ireland Dublin in the first-half, they
:20:34. > :20:42.opened up in the second. The extended the winning margin to an
:20:43. > :20:47.impressive 22 points. I said during the week we could not afford to lose
:20:48. > :20:52.the first game. Once the kick-off happens I do not really control what
:20:53. > :20:57.happens. I am glad we did not. We just tried to keep focused and will
:20:58. > :21:04.come out next week and hopefully do something similar. This gives George
:21:05. > :21:10.Schmidt his first win in the six Nations and the chance to build some
:21:11. > :21:13.real momentum in this tournament. Bring on the Welsh! Antrim were
:21:14. > :21:16.eventually crowned the 2013 Ulster hurling champions yesterday, seven
:21:17. > :21:18.months after the final was supposed to be played. The rearranged
:21:19. > :21:23.provincial decider took place in front of a crowd of less than 150
:21:24. > :21:27.spectators at Celtic Park. Antrim were comfortable winners against a
:21:28. > :21:32.Down side who were playing for the second time in 24 hours. During the
:21:33. > :21:35.trophy presentation, the governing body apologised to both sets of
:21:36. > :21:40.players for the delay in fulfulling the fixture. The night before at the
:21:41. > :21:44.same venue, Tyrone went into an early lead against Derry, Conan
:21:45. > :21:46.Grugan with this goal, only for the home side to fight back in the
:21:47. > :21:52.second half from seven points down to earn a draw. Rory McIlroy was
:21:53. > :21:55.left rueing a poor final round at the Dubai Desert Classic. After
:21:56. > :21:59.starting Sunday in second place, the Holywood man carded two birdies and
:22:00. > :22:02.four bogeys in his closing 18 holes. That meant a disappointing final
:22:03. > :22:10.round of 74, two-over-par, to leave him in a tie for ninth place on 12
:22:11. > :22:12.under overall. That was four shots behind Scotland's Stephen Gallacher,
:22:13. > :22:17.who retained the title he won last year. Tonight's Irish Premiership
:22:18. > :22:21.game between Glenavon and Ards is on following a pitch inspection.
:22:22. > :22:25.Playing conditions at the weekend were pretty miserable but the title
:22:26. > :22:29.race is certainly heating up. Champions Cliftonville beat Linfield
:22:30. > :22:33.to narrow the gap at the top of the table to two points. It means
:22:34. > :22:42.Cliftonville can go top if they win at Ballymena United tomorrow night.
:22:43. > :22:44.Nikki Gregg reports. He is not used to being a matchwinner for
:22:45. > :22:52.Cliftonville but this close range Polly could prove crucial in this
:22:53. > :22:57.season's title race. The champions now lie two points behind Linfield
:22:58. > :23:06.who finished the game with ten men after this man was dismissed for his
:23:07. > :23:11.lunge on the goal-scorer. I thought we were set up for a point
:23:12. > :23:19.beforehand to be honest. And always gave us an advantage. It was special
:23:20. > :23:24.because it is three points. Only three pictures survived the
:23:25. > :23:33.weather. This was the scene at the soggy Oval. This was the opener and
:23:34. > :23:39.the visitors added to their tally as the Glentoran defence failed to deal
:23:40. > :23:43.with a free kick. This man was alert for the rebound. It was just one
:23:44. > :23:54.goal at Shamrock Park but it was a special one. It meant victory over
:23:55. > :24:00.Ballymena United. Any goals scored in those conditions are pretty good.
:24:01. > :24:06.I do not think any of the weekend rain will have dried out yet. We
:24:07. > :24:09.might have escaped the worst of the awful weather hitting elsewhere but
:24:10. > :24:12.it hasn't stopped the combination of wind, high tides and driving rain
:24:13. > :24:24.causing problems on some coastal road. -- roads. Dan Stanton braved
:24:25. > :24:30.the elements. Massive waves smashing onto the promenade in Newcastle,
:24:31. > :24:36.County Down. This road was closed to motorists and pedestrians due to the
:24:37. > :24:41.danger. Here the harbour was taken over by the sea and for a time it
:24:42. > :24:48.was impassable to all vessels. This is not part of the river but part of
:24:49. > :24:56.the coastal road here. Only 4x4 vehicles could travel along the
:24:57. > :25:01.route. The sea is coming over the sea wall here in this car park but
:25:02. > :25:04.so far of the main road between here and port are fed the main road
:25:05. > :25:08.between here and Porter Ferry remains open. Towards Newton Arms
:25:09. > :25:12.work men had to abandon plans to reinforce the sea wall due to
:25:13. > :25:16.conditions. Soon after these pictures were taken, this part of
:25:17. > :25:23.the coastal road was closed to traffic. The damage is being
:25:24. > :25:31.assessed. It could be sometime before the repair cost is known.
:25:32. > :25:38.Isn't that amazing? You would not know where the road or DCN 's.
:25:39. > :25:45.Fantastic pictures. Not a date to be a reporter out on the roads. How are
:25:46. > :25:50.things looking now? What happened today was a combination of the high
:25:51. > :25:56.tide coming at the same time as peak winds. The direction of the win was
:25:57. > :26:01.right onto the shore hence the big waves coming over the sea wall. Not
:26:02. > :26:06.quite so bad further north along the Antrim caused but still not a day to
:26:07. > :26:11.be standing close to the coast at all. The winds have dropped and the
:26:12. > :26:17.rain has almost stopped so things have quite and down big time. One or
:26:18. > :26:24.two showers in the West and quite chilly as the wind eases.
:26:25. > :26:30.Temperatures could get close to freezing. Tomorrow will be a massive
:26:31. > :26:35.improvement on today, much drier and brighter with light winds. There
:26:36. > :26:41.could be frost at first, you may have to scrape the car windscreen
:26:42. > :26:48.first thing. Temperatures on the lower side at eight o'clock in the
:26:49. > :26:52.morning. One or two mist or fog patches bursting. Overall it is a
:26:53. > :27:00.quieter start to the day. Most places will get a large part of the
:27:01. > :27:06.day dry, perhaps just a few showers in eastern areas later. The breeze
:27:07. > :27:11.is picking up and we have an early weather warning issued by The Met
:27:12. > :27:20.office. An early were earlier warning is in force. -- whether
:27:21. > :27:24.warning. The wind will gust to 70 mph, coming straight onto the
:27:25. > :27:29.costs. There will be some heavy been around so we are likely to have
:27:30. > :27:33.further flooding problems. The rain comes in tomorrow night with the
:27:34. > :27:39.wind is picking up to gale force and that will continue into Wednesday.
:27:40. > :27:45.More heavy rain around and strong winds on Wednesday and some coastal
:27:46. > :27:48.flooding. That was BBC Newsline, thank you for watching, goodbye.