O'Reilly murder jury told to return majority verdict
The jury in the murder trial of a man accused of killing his wife has been told to return a majority verdict.
After almost five hours of deliberations, Mr Justice Barry White told the nine men and two women at the Central Criminal Court that he would now accept a verdict if 10 of them agreed on it.
When discharging the jury yesterday afternoon, the judge had said he wanted an unanimous verdict.
Joe O’Reilly, 35, is accused of murdering his wife Rachel at their family home in Dublin on October 4, 2004.
He denies killing the 30-year-old mother of two at Lambay View, Baldarragh, the Naul, Co Dublin.
The trial began 21 days ago with 12 jurors.
However, one woman was discharged on the first day when she confirmed that, shortly before being sworn in as a jury member, she had had a conversation with another prospective juror about the case.
Mr Justice White told the jurors that a majority verdict in law differs from a majority in normal circumstances, when it would mean anything above six to five was the majority.
Here, he said, a majority was when at least 10 of the jury agreeing.
The prosecution claims the only person with a motive to kill Mrs O’Reilly was her husband and that the case was not one of a botched burglary, but rather one of a carefully planned murder.
However, Mr O’Reilly’s defence counsel said the prosecution’s case had a lot of innuendo and allegation but only a little bit of substance and urged the jury not to reach a verdict they thought the media wanted.
The judge previously told the jurors as there was no direct evidence in relation to Mrs O’Reilly’s death, the case would have to be decided on circumstantial evidence, adding that each member of the jury must be convinced of the evidence.
Before the jurors ceased deliberations last night, they requesting a transcript of the evidence given by Derek Querney – Mr O’Reilly’s alibi – and of a garda reconstruction.
The judge read the evidence given by Mr O’Reilly’s colleague, who told the court what time he saw the accused at the Broadstone Bus Depot in Phibsboro on the morning of Mrs O’Reilly’s death.
Mr O’Reilly maintains he was working at the bus depot when his wife was killed.
