THE jury in the trial of a publican charged with the murder of his wife and a child is expected to retire this evening to consider its verdict.
The defence concluded its closing speech in the trial of Mr Frank McCann yesterday and Mr Justice Carney will open his charge to the jury this morning. When the charge is completed, the jury will be sent out to begin deliberations.
Mr McCann (36) has denied the murder of his wife Esther (36) and 18 month old Jessica who died in a fire at their home at Butterfield Avenue, Rathfarnham, on September 4th, 1992.
The 46 day trial has been told that Jessica was a blood relative of the defendant but not a child of his marriage to Esther. The prosecution has claimed that Mr McCann arranged the fire because he did not want to tell his wife why the Adoption Board had refused the couple's application to adopt Jessica.
The jury has also been told that Mr McCann, who owned The Cooperage Pub in Blessington, Co Wicklow, had complained to gardai that he had received threatening phone calls to the pub and his home.
Closing the case for the defence yesterday, Mr Barry White SC urged the jury to acquit Mr McCann. The State had no case against his client, counsel said.
He said the State case against the defendant was dependent on a statement admitting setting the fire which was of "no worth" and was made by Mr McCann in a surreal scene" in Tallaght Garda station on November 6th, 1992.
Mr White said there was nothing to corroborate that statement and he warned the jury about the dangers of convicting on the basis of an uncorroborated confession. He said the statement itself did not stand the test of scrutiny and was a false confession.
Counsel told the jury to bear in mind that when Mr McCann made that statement he had been almost 48 hours in Garda custody, had been extensively interrogated, had endured panic attacks, had had little sleep and was under strong pressure from his brothers to confess.
Gardai were aware that on November 6th, 1992, Mr McCann was broken and compliant and would do anything the gardai wanted, Mr White said.
He said the gardai had failed to ask crucial questions of Mr McCann during the making of the statement which left many matters unanswered.
He suggested what Mr McCann was doing when making that statement was reliving one of the many nightmares he must have had following the fire.
"I suggest he is reliving a nightmare which is not a reality," he said.
The gardai had not asked relevant questions because they were not interested in the truth but only in a confession, counsel said.
Mr White said other evidence given to the court also conflicted with what was in the statement. He said no hydrocarbon residues were found to indicate petrol was used in the fire and no remnants of a plastic drum were found.
He said there was also no evidence from handwriting or fingerprint experts to support the suggestion that Mr McCann was the source of threatening phone calls and letters to his home, The Cooperage pub in Blessington, Co Wicklow, or a neighbouring pub.
Counsel said the State had also made a "mountain out of a molehill" of the adoption issue in the case and had attached undue significance to it.
He said the State contention that Mrs McCann did not know the true position regarding the application to adopt Jessica was pure conjecture not supported by any evidence and he urged the jury to ignore this.
He said the State was contending that Mr McCann burned his wife and child because he did not want to tell her the Adoption Board intended to refuse the application because of a "malicious" allegation that Mr McCann had fathered a child by a girl.
Mr White said Mr McCann had been denied natural justice by the Adoption Board which had conducted a "kangaroo court" on the matter. He said no evidence had been given to the board by the girl with whom Mr McCann was alleged to have fathered a child.
The girl's mother would not allow the girl to go before the board and perhaps she knew her daughter's allegation would not stand up to scrutiny, counsel said.
He said even if the allegation was there it Was unlikely to have been the rock on which the McCann marriage foundered. Mr White said Mrs McCann had borne a child out of wedlock herself.
Counsel said certain gardai were engaged in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the trial and urged the jury not to trust any of them.
He said certain gardai had come together and told lies because they knew they had done wrong in relation to the detention of Mr McCann in Tallaght Garda station between November 4th and 6th, 1992.
He said the gardai had given liberal access to the brothers of the defendant to see Mr McCann while he was in Garda custody so they could put pressure on him to confess to the murders.
It was not unknown for the gardai to do wrong, Mr White said. He pointed to the recent case of Mr Frederick Flannery whose trial collapsed after the presiding judge found the gardai had failed to disclose crucial documents in the case.
Mr White accused the prosecution of throwing "dirt" in the case. He said much was made of Mr McCann opening his pub on the night of the funerals of Esther and Jessica and holding a birthday party for his mother.
Counsel said people grieved in different ways, that it was Mr McCann's mother's birthday that day and that funerals were not always solemn occasions. He said there was no callousness involved and this was a means of giving vent to emotions.