Murder trial is told accused man did not understand dialect of Irish

An Irish speaker will claim an alleged admission he made in Garda custody is false because the questions put to him were in a…

An Irish speaker will claim an alleged admission he made in Garda custody is false because the questions put to him were in a dialect he did not understand, his trial heard yesterday.

In the Central Criminal Court, the 27-year-old Co Galway man has pleaded not guilty to murder and two counts of rape of a 17-year-old girl in the county on December 6th, 1998.

As the jury returned to the trial after a week of legal argument, the prosecution called evidence of the man's second arrest in January 1999. This was ordered after the forensic science laboratory produced fibre evidence which linked him to the dead girl, the court heard.

Interviewed on January 13th, 1999, the accused told gardai "go and find out who did it" when asked to explain why fibres from the girl's jumper and fleece jacket were found on his white sweater. Det Garda Thomas O'Shea said when asked to tell the truth, the accused replied "I can't".

READ MORE

Mr Barry White SC, defending, said his client would tell the court that he was not able to follow the detective's Irish.

The trial continues.