A former US soldier has been returned for trial accused of the murder of Co Kerry sheep farmer Mike Gaine, who disappeared from his farm near Kenmare more than a year ago.
There was tight security at Tralee District Court on Wednesday as Michael Kelley (54), a native of Maine, made his eighth court appearance in relation to the matter.
Kelley is charged with murdering Gaine at Carrig East, Kenmare on a date unknown between March 20th and 21st, 2025.
Sgt Chris Manton confirmed a book of evidence had been served on Kelley and he applied for the matter to be returned to the next sittings of the Central Criminal Court.
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Judge David Waters, who noted that bail is not available on a murder charge at District Court level, granted the order sought by Manton.
The judge asked Kelley if he knew what an alibi was. When Kelley replied that he did, the judge gave him the warning regarding relying on any alibi as a defence against the charge.
He told Kelley that if he planned to rely on an alibi, he would have to disclose this to the prosecution within 14 days as such a defence would not be available to him after that.
Kelley’s solicitor, Pat Mann, said his client was aware of the alibi defence. He applied for free legal aid, seeking two counsel for the murder charge, which the judge granted.
Kelley thanked his solicitor before he was escorted in custody from the courtroom by prison officers.
A native of Belfast, Maine in the US northeast, Kelley served in the US army in the early 1990s and later worked a number of jobs in Maine before coming to Ireland in 2017.
He applied for asylum on arrival at Dublin Airport and was accommodated by the International Protection Accommodation Service at a centre in Killarney for some months.
He later went to live in woods in the Killarney National Park and spent a winter camping in woods in Kenmare before obtaining work as a farmhand from Gaine at the start of 2022.
Kelley had been living at the old Gaine family homestead at Carrig East, where Gaine paid him €100 a week and allowed him live rent-free in return for helping out on the farm.
