A jury considering verdicts in the trial of a 29-year-old man charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of murder were sent a hotel tonight after three and a half hours of deliberations.
In the Central Criminal Court, Martin McDonagh (29), of Cherry Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Patrick 'Deuce' Ward (38) and to three counts of the attempted murder of Patrick 'Jaws' Ward Senior, Edward 'Ned' Ward and 'Jaws Paddy' Ward Junior, all at a funeral in Carrownanty, Ballymote, Co. Sligo on May 10th 1999.
He has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a Browning pistol with intent to endanger life in Ballymote on the same date.
Patrick 'Deuce' Ward was shot in the back at the funeral of his namesake, Patrick 'Skillet' Ward in Ballymote. The alleged attempted murders took place during the same incident, when members of the 'Mountbellew Ward' Travelling family were set upon with sticks and stones and then made flee from a gun attack after they arrived for the funeral.
The prosecution alleged that Martin McDonagh was one of five gunmen that took part in "the concerted attack".
He denied the allegation and said that he was handed a gun after shots were fired and that he accidentally let off two shots himself, one of which injured him in the groin. The jury resumes its deliberations in the Central Criminal Court tomorrow.