This article is from page 15 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
THE jury was advised to concentrate on the ‘technical’ and ‘complex’ evidence presented over the seven weeks of the trial.
Mr Justice Roderick Murphy spent over six hours summarising the evi- dence, between last Friday afternoon and throughout yesterday.
He then directed the jury to begin deliberating, at 3.44pm yesterday.
Last Friday, the jury raised a query on the conspiracy to murder charge and yesterday the judge said he wished to clarify this, im- mediately prior to sending the jury to Cl) lelore-lnes
“The matter is simple at one level and a little bit more complex when you get down to it.
“It takes at least two to conspire.
One would have
thought it followed
logic. If there is
a failure to prove
against one, auto-
matically there is
a failure to prove against the other. Be careful in some cases that there is Some evidence against one and not evidence against the other.
“T don’t want to complicate the matter a little bit more than is neces- sary,’ said the judge.
He told the jury of eight men and four women that where there is a doubt, the benefit of that doubt must be given to the accused.
The judge made reference to the evidence given to the court by John Keating, who said he spent the morn- ing of August 16, 2006, with Sharon Collins, in Ennis.
Mr Keating told the trial he was sure of the date, having just returned
from a relative’s wedding in the UK.
Last week the trial heard from a witness from the ferry company who Mr Keating said he had travelled with. That witness said there were no records of anyone of that name. However, a search of records later established that he, in fact, had trav- elled on the dates he had said.
“You should take into account Mr (John) Keating’s very clear evidence and the concession by the prosecu- tion that he had in fact travelled. It is
a matter for you the diary (belonging to Mr Keating) on the 16th of August,” he told the jury.
He urged the jury to focus on _ the evidence heard in orelveam “however complex that was, however technical iW etAlmaY ein
“Tt’s your decision, not the counsel’s, not the court’s,’ he
nem After spending over three-and-a-
half hours deliber-
ating, at 7pm the
jury was sent to a
hotel for the night and will resume deliberating this morning.
Mr Justice Murphy told the jury he would recharge it this morning, on “one item undated, in email traffic’.
“We will give updated versions to- morrow and we will deal with requi- sitions from counsel then,” he said.
“Relax this evening. Don’t bother deliberating. Relax this evening and have a drink as well. You are entitled to that at this stage,” he told the jury.
The jury will return to court this morning at 10am to resume delibera- tions.