A man charged with the murder of another man whose body was found off cliffs in Co Donegal after a weeklong search has been remanded in custody to allow for a book of evidence to be served in his case.
Alan Vial (38) appeared by video-link at Letterkenny District Court on Thursday.
Mr Vial, from Drumanoo Head, Killybegs, has been charged with the murder of Robert Wilkin on June 25th at a place unknown within the State.
The charges followed a large-scale search involving gardaí, the Irish Coast Guard and other agencies including the Donegal Mountain Rescue team.
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Mr Vial’s solicitor Patsy Gallagher asked for the case to be adjourned until September 4th to allow for a book of evidence to be served on his client.
Wearing a grey sweatshirt, Vial spoke briefly when asked if he was happy with the remand in custody saying: “Yes, I am.”
Mr Gallagher added that there are also summary matters for Mr Vial but that they are of a different nature.
He also told Mr Vial that he will be in touch for a consultation with his legal counsel.
Mr Wilkin’s remains were found in the water near Sliabh Liag following a weeklong search for his remains. The search followed a tip-off to gardaí that a serious assault had taken place and an investigation was launched.
A postmortem has been carried out on Mr Wilkin’s remains but gardaí have not released the results for operational reasons.
