Jury retires in family stab death trial
A jury in the trial of a father accused of murdering his son over four years ago has retired to begin deliberations on a verdict.
Trial judge Mr Justice Barry White sent out the jury of seven men and five women to consider whether or not Mr Thomas Groome, aged 47, was guilty of the murder of his son Christopher in his caravan at Churchview Heights, Edenderry, Co Offaly on November 15, 1999.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Mr Christopher Groome, aged 19, died from a fatal stab wound to the chest during a "tussle" with his father, the accused, when a drunken row broke out inside the caravan after a night out.
In his address to the jury, Mr Justice White said "the knife in question has not been found, you are not to draw any adverse inference from that".
"There is no evidence as to what happened the knife or how it disappeared," he said.
He advised the jury to find the accused either guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or to acquit. He also ordered them to bring back a unanimous verdict.
Mr Groome is accompanied in court by his current partner and his wife from whom he is now separated.
