Keane murder trial adjourned as jurors discharged
The trial of five men charged with the murder of Limerick crime boss Kieran Keane was adjourned today after jurors were discharged from the jury panel.
The biggest murder trial ever to be heard in Limerick opened amid tight security on Tuesday when it took just over two hours to empanel a jury of three women and nine men.
Today two male jurors were excused from the panel after it emerged that one of them lived in close proximity to one of the accused men.
A second juror was also discharged when he said he could not “concentrate” on the case due to an ongoing situation at his place of work involving possible redundancies.
“I find it hard to concentrate when my livelihood is at stake,” he said.
A third jury panellist was then sworn in but later excused after he said he had important university exams coming up.
The trial – which is expected to last until Christmas – was adjourned by Mr Justice Paul Butler until Friday morning.
“I can see this trial going in a particular direction and I want to consider it further so I’m going to adjourn it until Friday. We should have a definitive position by then,” said Mr Justice Butler.
On Tuesday the five accused men pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kieran Keane at Drombana Co Limerick on January 29 last and to the attempted murder of his nephew Owen Treacy on the same date.
The also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning the two men on the same date.
The five accused are James McCarthy, aged 24, of Delmege Park, Moyross; David Stanners, aged 31, of Pineview Gardens, Moyross; Christopher ‘Smokey’ Costelloe, aged 20, Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty; Anthony ‘Noddy’ McCarthy, aged 21, The Fairgreen and Dessie Dundon, aged 20, Hyde Road, all in Limerick.
All of the accused were brought to court yesterday under armed escort and everyone entering the court room was searched for weapons and frisked by an electronic scanner.
The prosecution’s chief witness, Owen Treacy, sat alone in the upstairs viewing gallery of the courtroom guarded by armed detectives. Kieran Keane’s widow Sophie Keane was among those gathered in the public gallery.
