David Mahon murder trial jury asks to see knife

The jury in the David Mahon murder trial will continue its deliberations in the Central Criminal Court on Friday.

Mr Mahon (45) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Dean Fitzpatrick, the 23-year old son of Mr Mahon’s wife Audrey from an earlier relationship.

The dead man was the older brother of Amy Fitzpatrick, who went missing as a 15-year- old in Spain in 2008 and has never been found.

Mr Fitzpatrick died from a stab wound in the abdomen on May 26th, 2013, outside the apartment in which his mother, Audrey Fitzpatrick, lived with Mr Mahon at Burnell Square, Northern Cross, Malahide Road, Dublin.

The prosecution has claimed Mr Mahon was drunk, angry and agitated when he stabbed Mr Fitzpatrick with deadly intent.

Mr Mahon has said the death was an accident or a possible suicide. He said Mr Fitzpatrick and he had been arguing after Mr Fitzpatrick took a water bottle off his bicycle to annoy him.

He said Mr Fitzpatrick pulled a knife on him, but he wrestled it from him and put it into his pocket. He later took it out to show it to him and Mr Fitzpatrick walked on to it. The trial heard Mr Fitzpatrick bled to death after suffering a single stab wound.

The six women and six men of the jury began deliberating on Wednesday. They returned to court on Thursday and asked the judge for the knife block from which Mr Mahon said Mr Fitzpatrick had pulled the knife. They also asked for another knife found on Mr Mahon’s balcony.

Mr Mahon’s counsel, Seán Guerin, in his closing speech, suggested the jurors hold a knife in their hands while in the jury room. He was responding to the prosecution’s suggestion that Mr Mahon’s hand was tensed while holding the knife.

“Put it flat in your hand,” said Mr Guerin, urging they take precautions. He asked them to then say the words Mr Mahon claimed to have said to Mr Fitzpatrick: “What are you doing, pulling a knife on your father?”

Three verdicts explained

“It’s not a calm conversation,” he suggested. “You will feel your hand tensing. It’s how the body reacts.”

The jurors also asked for the pathologist’s report but Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan said they could not have it. She said she could instead read his evidence for them or read her summary of his evidence.

They again asked for all three possible verdicts to be explained: guilty; not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter; and not guilty.

The judge explained that for a murder verdict, they would have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Fitzpatrick had been unlawfully killed by Mr Mahon, that Mr Mahon had intended to kill or seriously injure him, and that Mr Fitzpatrick’s death was not accidental.

“If you believe what David Mahon said, that this was an accident, then you have to acquit David Mahon,” she said. “Even if you don’t accept what David Mahon said was true, but if you believe it might reasonably be true, you acquit.”

She said that, even if they rejected his account, this did not mean they would rubber-stamp guilty on the issue paper. “The prosecution has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said.

She said that for a manslaughter verdict they had to be satisfied that Mr Mahon had committed an unlawful and dangerous act in producing the knife with an intention to assault, but not seriously harm.

She explained that assault did not need to involve touch, but could simply involve the accused putting the deceased in fear. She also believed that a person could be guilty of this offence if they were reckless about the danger.

The jury had previously asked to watch CCTV footage shown in the case, which showed Mr Fitzpatrick arrive at the apartment block on the night of the incident. Part of Thursday afternoon was spent facilitating showing this on a screen in the jury room.

The jurors had spent a total of five hours and 11 minutes considering their verdict before going home for the night.