Jury fails to reach verdict in Essalhi murder case
The jury has been discharged in the trial of a 21-year-old accused of murdering a man in north Dublin three years ago after failing to reach a verdict.
Michael Kinsella of Swiftbrook Close in Tallaght had pleaded not guilty to murdering Adil Essalhi, 31, at Tyrrelstown, Co. Dublin on January 6, 2011.
The Central Criminal Court heard that his uncle, Wayne Kinsella, was convicted of the murder in 2012.
The jury of seven women and five men was told just before lunchtime today that a majority verdict could be returned.
But after five hours of deliberation the jury told the judge it could not reach a verdict. Mr Justice Paul Carney ordered that the case be put into the next list to fix dates for trial.
Mr Essahli met Wayne Kinsella and another woman in a pub in Dublin city centre and they went back to drink further at an apartment in Tyrrelstown with a group of others.
The court heard Mr Essahli’s body was found in a ditch in fields behind Tyrrelstown Plaza some days later and an attempt had been made to burn him.
It was the State’s case that Michael and Wayne Kinsella carried out the murder because they believed Mr Essahli was involved in the killing of their relative Lee Kinsella.
State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy previously told the court that Mr Essalhi’s body had 58 separate injuries with 19 chop wounds to the skull and facial bones and there was evidence of post mortem burning.
Prof Cassidy said that two weapons were used including a machete and a sharp instrument such as a knife.
Michael Kinsella denied having anything to do with the killing in garda interviews saying that the deceased was still alive when he left Tyrrelstown.
He also denied returning to Tyrrelstown the following day to burn the body.
