Jury to resume deliberations on Wednesday in Tallaght murder trial

A jury will consider its verdict for a second day in the trial of a man accused of murdering his 25-year-old friend after a row over a stolen scooter.

The jury panel of six men and six women has so far spent two hours and 30 minutes considering their verdict. They will return to court on Wednesday morning at 10.30am to resume their deliberations.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC submitted in his closing address that while accused John Titiloye may have acted in a primal fashion when he fatally stabbed Ademola Giwa, he did so to protect his father, who sustained a stab type injury to the eye during the altercation.

The jury has heard that Mr Giwa died after sustaining a stab wound to the neck which cut his jugular vein and damaged a lung, resulting in “devastating consequences”. Opening the murder case to the jury last week, prosecution barrister John Byrne SC said that in the course of an argument Mr Titiloye produced a knife and stabbed Mr Giwa in the neck. The 12 jurors were also told it is the accused’s position that he was in possession of a knife for self defence and having initially walked away from the altercation he returned to protect his father, who sustained a stab type injury to the eye.

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Mr Grehan asked for an outright acquittal for his client or a verdict of manslaughter on the basis of self defence or the partial defence of provocation, which can reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that when considering provocation they would have to consider whether there was such an overwhelming loss of self-control by Mr Titiloye, which was so sudden and immediate that the accused could not prevent himself from committing the act. He said it was the defence’s contention that Mr Titiloye was provoked when he saw his father being attacked by Mr Giwa down the road as the accused was moving away from the area. “Is there credible evidence to give rise to that in your assessment?” asked the judge.

The judge told the jury that if the accused man has the full defence of self defence then he is not guilty of murder; if he has the partial defence of self defence then he is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter; and if he has the partial defence of provocation then he is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Justice McDermott said there were three pathways to the verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter because of absence of intent; the partial defence of self defence; or the partial defence of provocation.

He added: “If you feel that the prosecution had not established intent to kill or cause serious injury then the appropriate verdict is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter”.

The judge concluded his charge to the 12 jurors before lunchtime on Tuesday in the trial of John Titiloye (28), with an address at Mac Uilliam Crescent, Fortunestown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ademola “Dizzy” Giwa (25) in the Mac Uilliam Road area in Tallaght on August 10th 2021. Mr Giwa was from Mac Uilliam Parade in the same west Dublin town.

The jury can return three verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Mr Titiloye, namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.

The judge has asked the 12 jurors to be unanimous in their verdict.

In his closing speech, Mr Grehan said his client had not gone out looking for trouble that day but that “trouble had arrived at his doorstep” and that Mr Titiloye had been “dragged into something not of his own making”. He added that witnesses had heard the accused say “daddy” or “not my daddy” when the fight broke out.

The defence barrister explained in his closing address that, if someone does a provocative act to somebody that causes the person to temporarily lose their self-restraint and complete control so that they are not master of their own mind, then in those circumstances the law recognises human frailty. The partial defence can reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter.

Eyewitness Samson Fayemi (26) had told the trial that he owed a small sum of money to Mr Titiloye which had become “a source of tension” within their friendship and that Mr Fayemi’s scooter was forcibly taken by a number of men including the defendant “to settle the debt” on August 9th, the day before the killing, at Marlfield Estate in Tallaght.

Mr Fayemi and Mr Giwa then called to Mr Titiloye’s home at Mac Uilliam Crescent at 6.45pm the following day and a physical altercation broke out, which Anthony Titiloye [the defendant’s father] had become involved in.

In the State’s closing speech, prosecution counsel John Byrne SC asked the jury to consider whether a lesser degree of force from the accused might have been a more measured and appropriate response and asked them to find Mr Titiloye guilty of murder.