Jury in Noble case sent to hotel after failing to reach verdict
The jury in the trial of Kelly Noble, a young woman accused of murdering a teenage mother-of-two outside a supermarket in Co Meath last year was sent to a hotel tonight after failing to reach a
verdict.
The jury of seven women and five men had been deliberating for just over two hours at the Central Criminal Court.
Kelly Noble herself a mother-of-two, denies the murder of 19-year-old Emma McLoughlin, who was
stabbed in the chest in Laytown, Co Meath on June 2 last year.
The 21-year-old woman, from Seaview in Laytown, also denies a second charge of unlawfully producing a knife in the course of a dispute or a fight, in a manner likely to intimidate or inflict serious injury.
Making submissions for the prosecution Mr Anthony Sammon SC pointed to the evidence of shop
worker Deborah Cantwell (aged 19).
She said she heard the accused refer to her argument with Ms McLoughlin and say she would "slice her up".
Mr Sammon said that after making this direct declaration of her intention, Ms Noble carried it out and should therefore be found guilty of murder.
However defence counsel Mr Michael O'Higgins SC told the jury that Emma McLoughlin had been
"spoiling for a fight" and on this particular night it happened to be with Kelly Noble who was "in the shop doing what people do. Minding her own business and getting a few groceries."
He said she was attacked two, probably three times by Emma McLoughlin and one of the attacks drew blood.
He said that citizens were entitled to a range of options to defend and protect themselves.
If the jury found that Ms Noble's actions in objective terms that night were reasonable then she was entitled to outright acquittal.
If her actions were not reasonable in objective terms, but they were believed wrongly by her to be so, then this was a case of manslaughter.
He also said that if the slow burn of events that night led them to feel that Ms Noble had experienced a total loss of control, then they could also convict her of manslaughter rather than murder.
Mr Justice Barry White told members of the jury panel they must be cold, dispassionate and analytical in considering their verdict and must leave aside any sympathies.
In order to convict the accused of murder, he said the State must have satisfied them beyond all reasonable doubt that the issue of self-defence does not arise in the trial.
He said they must also consider the defence of provocation in which an accused is found to have had a loss of self control and is so subject to passion that they are no longer master of their own mind.
The judge also told the jury that they must try each of the counts against Ms Noble separately.
The jury is due to resume its deliberations at 10.15am tomorrow morning
