This article is from page 2 of the 2009-10-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE BOOK of evidence in the case of a man accused of murder in Kil- rush during the summer is expected to be served in a month, a court has been told.
Kilrush District Court has been told that 87 statements are included in a file on the case which was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
In response to a query from the defence solicitor Eugene O’Kelly as to why the book of evidence was not ready last week, Superintendent Michael Comyns, who is leading the
investigation, pointed out that the accused was charged on July 31. He said that a file was prepared and sent to the DPP on August 5. “That file contained 87 statements,” he said in court, last Wednesday.
He said that the state pathologist’s report was not received until October 12 and the ballistic report on the gun was not received until October 15.
‘These matters were all then sent to the DPP and the DPP has directed to proceed with the charge. The matter is now with the state solicitor, who is preparing the book of evidence,” said Slee] moves hsrtse
He said the matter was dealt with
by gardai “expeditiously.”
Ma LOCE WMC EW MOPAR EN COMO NRO ST DEonm | spoke to the state solicitor this morn- ing. He has confidence the book of evidence will be ready in four weeks,’ said Supt Comyns.
Asked by Mr O’Kelly was he confident it would be ready in four weeks, the garda superintendent re- plied, “I’m not preparing the book. The state solicitor 1s preparing the book.”
Mr O’Kelly said that the time limit for preparation of a book of evidence is 42 days.
“It’s 82 days. It’s double the time. The state knew that this applied as
much to a murder charge as to a public order charge. The legislation should not be ignored,” he said.
He said that while the matter was “complex,” it was not “unduly com- jy ts.aae
“We are being hampered by not having the photographs,” he said.
However, Supt Comyns said the legislation was not being ignored. ‘There 1s no murder charge that is not complex,” he said and asked for an adjournment. This was granted by Judge Mangan, who granted an ex- tension of time to produce the book of evidence. The accused will re-ap- pear in court in a month.