State witness for Keane trial pleads guilty to perjury

THE collapsed Limerick murder trial which sparked national outrage two years ago was recalled yesterday when one key State witness pleaded guilty to perjury.

Liam Keane, now aged 23, laughed at photographers and gave a two-fingered salute as he walked free from the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on November 3, 2003 after his trial on a charge of murder collapsed. In the witness box at the time six state witnesses refused to back up statements they gave to gardaí. A seventh state witness refused to give evidence.

Keane, who is a member of a well-known Limerick criminal family, of Singland Gardens, Ballysimon, Limerick had denied the murder of Eric Leamy, aged 18 at St Mary's Park, Limerick on the night of August 27/26, 2001.

As the trial collapsed, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he had never before encountered "the likes of what happened in this case."

The prosecution entered a nolle prosequi (an entry made on the record, by the prosecutor or plaintiff who declares that he will proceed no further) after four days of witnesses refusing to back up statements.

Mr Justice Carney referred to the "collective amnesia" of state witnesses and ordered an entire transcript of the case to be forwarded to the DPP.

At Limerick Circuit Court yesterday, one of the State witnesses who refused to back up statements given to gardaí pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury.

Amanda McNamara, a 22-year-old former shop assistant who at the time lived in St Mary's Park, the scene of the murder, was remanded on bail to the same court on February 7 next on the application of her counsel, John Edwards, SC.

She pleaded guilty to a charge that on October 30, 2003, at the Central Criminal Court in the Dublin Four Courts in the case of The People V Liam Keane, and being a competent witness to whom an oath was administered in the case, knowingly and falsely swore that she did not remember where she was on the date that Eric Leamy died, and further that she knew nothing about the circumstances of Eric Leamy's death, other than what she had heard from others.

Court proceedings have been initiated against two more State witnesses in the Keane trial one has been charged with perjury and the other with contempt of court.

Amid a public outcry over the collapse of the case, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell said he would examine the criminal justice system to see if changes were required.

Mr McDowell said: "As the minister with responsibility for the criminal justice system, it is appropriate for me, in the light of recent events, to review the adequacy of legislative provisions, resource allocation, and administrative practice, to see whether and what changes are required."

The Labour party called the collapse of the Keane trial a sad day for the criminal justice system.

The party's justice spokesman, Joe Costello said: "We cannot tolerate a situation where justice is aborted. The Minister for Justice has to ensure that the rule of law operates in every part of the country. It behoves him to act on the degree of lawlessness that we have seen in Limerick."