The jury in the trial of Mr Joseph Delaney, accused of murdering another man in a drugs row, failed to reach a verdict yesterday, and Mr Justice Barr discharged it at the Central Criminal Court after the forewoman told him that members had "fixed views" and did not believe they could reach a verdict.
Earlier the judge had told the jury of eight men and four women they could bring in a majority verdict if they could not reach a unanimous decision. The judge remanded Mr Delaney in custody. Trial dates will be fixed on June 25th.
Mr Delaney, wearing a black polo neck jumper and black jacket and with a leather coat draped over his shoulder, spent several minutes consulting his counsel, Mr Blaise O'Carroll, after the jury's discharge.
Mr Delaney (53), a native of Swords, Co Dublin, and formerly of La Rochelle, Naas, Co Kildare, had pleaded not guilty to the charge that he, with his son Scott Delaney, then 22 years old, murdered Mark Dwyer (23) on or about December 14th, 1996. Mr Delaney had also denied that on December 14th, 1996, at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin, he falsely imprisoned Mark Dwyer.
The jury retired at 4.06 p.m. on Thursday and was sent to a hotel at 7.57 p.m. after failing to reach a verdict. They resumed deliberations at 10.30 a.m. yesterday and returned at 2.28 p.m. to tell Mr Justice Barr they could not reach a verdict.
During the 24-day trial the jury heard that Mark Dwyer was killed after a consignment of 40,000 ecstasy tablets from the Continent went missing. The prosecution claimed Mr Delaney was bringing in the drugs and that he blamed Dwyer for stealing them. The jury also heard that Dwyer was kidnapped by three men wearing balaclavas from a house in Foster Terrace, Ballybough. Dwyer was tortured, badly beaten, then shot and his body dumped at Scribblestown Lane in Finglas, where it was found in a field, still bound and hooded.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said Dwyer had been subjected to a punishment beating with a baseball bat or pipe. He died from a shotgun blast to his head.
Mr Delaney's son Scott, who was convicted of murdering Dwyer last October and is now serving a life sentence, told the trial that on the night of the killing, his father "was letting Mark get shot".
He said that in October 1996 his father got 40,000 ecstasy tablets in Amsterdam which were brought to Paris and on to Cherbourg, from where they were to be brought to Dublin. Scott Delaney said that when his father heard that Dwyer had been "trying to sell the loot to other people" his view was to "take him out". Scott Delaney told the jury that four drug gangs were out to kill Mark Dwyer.
Another witness, Ms Adrienne McGuinness, told the trial Dwyer was tortured by the accused man and three other men wearing balaclavas. She heard Dwyer "screaming in pain, on and off for three hours, horrifying screams."