Judge tells Dwyer jury: If you think suicide is a reasonably possible hypothesis - acquit

The jury in the Graham Dwyer trial has restarted its deliberations after the judge told the members that the only verdicts open to them were guilty or not guilty of murder.

Judge tells Dwyer jury: If you think suicide is a reasonably possible hypothesis - acquit

The jury in the Graham Dwyer trial has restarted its deliberations after the judge told the members that the only verdicts open to them were guilty or not guilty of murder.

He had called the jury back from their deliberations this morning to give some legal directions and read over some of the evidence heard during trial.

The five women and seven men began deliberating today afternoon in the trial of the 42-year-old architect charged with murdering Dubliner Elaine O’Hara in 2012.

Mr Dwyer is charged with murdering Ms O’Hara at Killakee, Rathfarnham, Dublin on August 22, 2012, hours after she was discharged from a mental health hospital.

The Cork-born father-of-three of Kerrymount Close, Foxrock in Dublin has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 36-year-old childcare worker.

It’s the State’s case that the architect took Ms O’Hara up the mountain to Killakee and stabbed her to death in pursuit of sexual gratification.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt called the jurors back into court yesterday morning, on the 44th day of the Central Criminal Court trial.

He told them that the question of suicidality was important for both sides and he thought he should revisit it.

He read out the evidence of Ms O’Hara’s treating psychiatrist, Dr Matt Murphy, who testified on February 12.

“It shows Ms O’Hara’s condition over the years,” he said, after concluding.

He noted that the defence was focused on the issue of suicidality and he said that they had to consider it.

“You have to assess both of these personalities and what you know of them,” he said.

He said they had to be satisfied that the parties were communicating by phone, and then decide whether the text messages represented fantasy or plans to do actual things.

He said that, when assessing Ms O’Hara as a person, her ongoing issues and thoughts of suicide were highly relevant.

However, he said the thoughts of suicide were part of her mental health problems but not the full picture.

He also spoke about the forensic evidence and said the defence position was that the forensics were clear.

“Forensic evidence must be seen in a more nuanced light than that,” he said. “Simply saying something’s present or not present doesn’t give you the full context. Everything depends on context.”

He said the ‘Killing Darci’ document found on Mr Dwyer’s hard drive was part of the prosecution case, but he said the State was also relying on other documents and what was documented in the videos and texts.

He said that, closer to her disappearance, the State also relied on the text it says the accused sent to Ms O’Hara: ‘You’re going to get stabbed in the guts’.

He said they had heard how the pathologist had dealt with both propositions, by answering the defence’s question about bony injuries if stabbed in the ribs and the State’s about being stabbed in the abdomen.

He referred to a question asked by the jury yesterday: “What do we find him guilty of?”

“You are not obliged to convict Mr Dwyer,” said the judge. “You can only convict him of one thing on the issue paper. You’re asked to consider the offence of murder… The causation is stabbing.”

“The only two verdicts are guilty or not guilty,” he said. “Confine yourselves to the verdict that has to be returned, the evidence and what is reasonably inferred from the evidence.

“You have not been asked by the parties to consider any intermediate or different verdict. It’s guilty of murder or not guilty.”

He told them they were not asked to consider accidental death.

“It’s murder by stabbing beyond a reasonable doubt,” he added.

He said they had to ask if there was an innocent view of the case, which the defence said was contained in three sources.

These included the interviews, where Mr Dwyer said he didn’t do it and that it wasn’t him with the phones; and the two pieces of writing.

He was referring to letters Mr Dwyer wrote to his wife and son, in which he said Ms O’Hara had died by suicide and it was nothing to do with him.

“Ask again; is there a reasonable hypothesis on that evidence consistent with innocence? You have to acquit in that case. It’s as stark as that,” he said.

“If you think suicide is a reasonably possible hypothesis, you acquit,” he said, adding that if they didn’t think so, they still had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he stabbed her with intent.

It’s guilty or not guilty of murder, he added.

The foreman then spoke to the judge.

“I just wanted to say I did not mean it to come out like that yesterday,” he said, referring to his question about what to find the accused guilty of.

The judge replied that, when it came to things not coming out as they were meant to, ‘I have a first-class honours degree’.

The jury restarted their deliberations at 2.40pm, with the judge telling them not to give themselves a deadline.

He said that if it went beyond the end of this week, he would have to ask them to stay with it.

“There’s too much at stake,” he said.

The trial has heard that Ms O’Hara was last seen in Shanganagh on the evening of August 22, 2012.

A cause of death could not be determined when her skeletal remains were discovered at Killakee on September 13 the following year.

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