Teen remanded on murder charge

A TEENAGER accused of murdering 12-year-old Michaela Davis last weekend has been remanded in custody for a further three weeks.

Jonathan Byrne, aged 18, did not apply for bail when he appeared at Cloverhill District Court yesterday.

Byrne, from Lohunda Downs, Clonsilla, west Dublin, did not speak during a brief hearing before Judge John Lindsay.

He was charged last Monday with the murder of the schoolgirl in the early hours of Saturday in Porterstown, near Clonsilla. Byrne made no reply when charged and was granted legal aid.

When the case was called yesterday, Byrne walked into the court wearing the same clothes as last Monday: a grey hoodie, blue jeans and white runners.

He sat and leaned forward as he listened to defence counsel Austin O Briain and prosecuting garda Detective Sergeant Daniel Callaghan of Blanchardstown Garda Station make applications to Judge Lindsay.

Det Sgt Callaghan applied for a remand in custody for three weeks, which was consented to by Mr O Briain. Judge Lindsay so directed and adjourned the case to September 24 at Cloverhill.

Michaela Davis was laid to rest last Thursday after funeral Mass at St Mochta’s Church in Porterstown, close to the family home in the Village estate.

Her body was found last Saturday afternoon in undergrowth next to a walkway running parallel to the Royal Canal and the commuter rail line, less than five minutes from her home.

Michaela had gone missing from her home on Saturday after telling her parents she was going our for a short walk just after midnight. Her dad, Brendan, and mother, Deirdre, alerted gardaí at 2.20am on Saturday morning after she failed to return home.