Jury warned case may run to Christmas

MANY were called but few were chosen.

From a panel of around 200 potential jurors, just seven women and five men were selected for the Wayne O'Donoghue trial, only the second murder trial held in Cork since the foundation of the State.

Solemnly, just after 10am, the 200 or so filed in single line into the Central Criminal Court sitting. The judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, told them he needed everyone who was called to be able to serve on a case that would last weeks or else tell him now why they should be excused.

"This case is likely to run between two and three weeks. These estimates tend to be on the low side so this case may very well run until Christmas," he said.

He was at pains to stress that anyone who could not serve that long must speak out and allow another person from the 200-strong panel to be chosen.

"If anybody is keeping information to themselves which I need to know and which causes me to collapse the jury, I will have to take an extremely serious view of that situation.

"Anyone who has a genuine difficulty can be accommodated but I must know that before you are sworn," he told them.

He then told the courtroom that the prosecution and defence could each object to seven potential jurors without giving a reason.

"In any one case, there will be up to 14 challenged for no reason. It could be for wearing a collar-and-tie or for not wearing a collar- and-tie. The only information that each side has about you is your occupation."

Each potential juror was then told that they must satisfy themselves that they can stick with the trial until a verdict "whenever that might be", he said.

The 12 jurors, having elected a woman as the foreperson, departed at around noon, having fixed their lunch arrangements and being told they must be back in court for 2pm.

And just after 2pm, all eyes in the court were on senior counsel Shane Murphy as he rose to his feet to outline what the prosecution and its witnesses will say are the events surrounding the death of 11-year- old Robert Holohan.

First the counsel put the focus firmly on the jury, reminding them of their distinct role in the trial as separate from the judge and the prosecution team.

"Your function," he told them, "is to be judges of the facts."

Referring to Mr Justice Paul Carney, the counsel said: "His lordship is to be the judge in matters of law. The law must be taken from his lordship."

The prosecution's job was to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegation that on January 4, 2005, Wayne O'Donoghue murdered 11-year-old Robert Holohan.

He then took them repeatedly through what the Oireachtas had laid down in relation to the accusation of murder.

To a hushed courtroom, which included up to 30 journalists, he stressed that juries trying criminal cases had be sure beyond reasonable doubt that the person accused of a crime was guilty.

Any reasonable doubt, he said, could only be based on the facts and evidence put before the court and nothing else.

"If you have a reasonable doubt, the law says you must give the benefit of the doubt to the accused but if not, then you must return a guilty verdict and convict," he said.

He reminded them it was their job to listen to what was said in court and decide the strength of that evidence.

After reminding them again that the prosecution had the burden of proving the allegations, he began at the beginning: how Robert was born on June 13, 1993, and died on January 4, 2005.