Central Criminal Court jury considers verdict in harbour drowning case

A jury in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin will resume deliberations on Tuesday morning in the trial of a woman accused of murdering her colleague by driving him into a harbour, where he drowned. Marta Herda (29), Páirc Na Sáile, Emoclew Road, Arklow, Co Wicklow, is charged with the murder of Csaba Orsos (31) on March 26th, 2013.

She has pleaded not guilty to murdering the Hungarian man at South Quay, Arklow. Both had been in Ms Herda’s car when it went into the water shortly before 6am that day. Ms Herda escaped but Mr Orsos could not swim and his body was found on a nearby beach later that day.

The trial heard they had worked together. She had told gardaí he was in love with her, but she did not feel the same way. She said he had spent two years following her, phoning her and sending her messages. She told detectives they had been arguing in the car when she drove into the water.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy has told the jury members that they have three possible verdicts open to them: guilty of murder, acquittal or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He said that for a murder verdict, they must be satisfied that there was intent to kill or seriously injure.

He said that a person could form the intention to kill someone on the spot and that it was not necessary for the prosecution to prove motive. He explained that for a manslaughter verdict, there must have been a high degree of negligence, such as to cause a risk of substantial injury to others.

“It seems inevitable that there was some degree of carelessness in causing the car to be in the water,” he said, adding that it was up to the jury to decide whether Ms Herda was grossly negligent. He told the jurors that their verdict must be unanimous.

The jury had deliberated for almost three hours yesterday before being sent home for the night. It will resume this morning.