THE trial of a Limerick man accused of a murder in the city was adjourned until next month at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday. The judge had been told that a key prosecution witness was missing.
When he was arraigned in court on Monday, Mr Anthony Broderick (22), of O'Malley Park, Limerick, denied the murder of Mr James Doyle (49), also of O'Malley Park, in Limerick on September 3rd, 1995.
The prosecuting counsel, Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, applied yesterday for the trial to be adjourned. He said that gardai had been unable to locate Miss Emma Collins, an essential prosecution witness.
Chief Supt Michael Fitzgerald said the court had issued a warrant for the arrest of Miss Collins on Monday. He said efforts had been made by gardai in the Limerick and Clare divisions to locate her. Searches had been made of houses where Garda intelligence suggested she might be found, and other inquiries had been made.
Chief Supt Fitzgerald said he was satisfied that Miss Collins was an essential witness. He said Garda searches were continuing and inquiries might be made outside the jurisdiction.
Miss Collins had been spoken to last Saturday, he said, and he believed she had intended to attend in court as a witness.
"It's unusual for this person to disappear," he added. "Her absence is unusual and unexpected but I feel we have to make further inquiries."
Cross-examined by Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for the defence, the chief superintendent said he might be in a position in a week's time to clarify the position.
He said Miss Collins was due to appear in court tomorrow on a shoplifting charge.
Mr MacEntee said his client had been in custody since September 1995 and could not be "left in suspension for any substantial period of time Mr Justice Carney discharged the jury and said he would remand Mr Broderick on his own bail of £1,000 until February 6th.
The defendant was ordered to live with his aunt at St Mary's Park in Limerick and to report daily to Henry Street Garda station.