The murder trial of two doormen accused of the murder of a Vietnamese man and the assault of a Chinese man dramatically collapsed at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Henry Abbott discharged the jury in the trial of Mr James Harmer and Mr Noel O'Flaherty and told the 11 jurors that fresh material which emerged last Thursday was "unforeseen but also more serious than would have been thought".
Following two days of legal argument, Mr Justice Abbott said he had "decided to stop the trial".
"It's not possible for this trial to proceed any longer," he said, and excused the jurors from jury service for 10 years.
The two accused, Mr Harmer (26), of Strafford, England, and Mr O'Flaherty (33), of McCormack Gardens, Sutton, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ly Minh Luong (50), at Fownes St Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin, on August 19th, 2002.
Both men had also denied assaulting a Chinese ex-policeman, Mr Dong Wei (35), causing him serious harm on August 16th, 2002, the same incident in which Mr Luong was attacked.