Jury to resume deliberating in trial of two men accused of murder

The jury will resume deliberating on Thursday in the trial of two Dubliners charged with murdering the cousin of one of them.

The Central Criminal Court jury has been told that it has three verdict options in relation to each accused: guilty, not guilty but guilty of assisting an offender, or acquittal.

Stephen Tynan (41) of Deerpark Lodge, Kiltipper, Tallaght, and Raymond Fitzgerald (37) of Knockmore Grove, Killinarden, also in Tallaght have both pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Tynan's cousin, Andrew Guerrine, at an unknown place between May 22nd and May 23rd, 2015.

The trial has heard that Mr Guerrine's body was found in the early hours of May 23rd on Steelstown Lane in Rathcoole, 10km from where he was last seen alive in Tallaght. The deceased, who was from New Street in the city centre, had sustained 20 stab wounds, including two that penetrated his skull and spine.

The prosecutor described the killing as pre-planned in his closing speech. Brendan Grehan said that although there was no DNA evidence, murder weapon or eyewitness testimony to connect the accused men to the killing, there was circumstantial evidence proving their guilt.

However, Mr Fitzgerald’s barrister said that all the suspicious circumstances that the State says are attributable to his guilt could be explained by him being an accessory after the fact.

Gruesome attack

Mr Tynan’s barrister said that his client was ‘hardly the typical candidate for the gruesome attack’ on his own cousin, but might have stupidly got involved in the aftermath.

Both lawyers asked for an acquittal.

Mr Justice Michael White told the jury that there was an alternative verdict available: being an accessory after the fact.

He read out Section 7 (2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997, which states that it is an offence to impede the apprehension or prosecution of someone, who has committed an arrestable offence.

“The prosecution does not contend for the alternative verdict of accessory after the fact,” he noted, however. “They allege murder.”

The five women and seven men of the jury retired to begin considering their verdict on Wednesday afternoon. They had spent an hour and a half deliberating before being sent home for the evening. They will resume on Thursday morning.