Student faces conspiracy charges after teen’s killing

AN 18-year-old student appeared before Judge James O’Connor at Killarney District Court, yesterday, on two conspiracy charges surrounding the unlawful killing of teenager Stephen Lyne in the town last year.

Martin Ollo, of Whitebridge Manor, Killarney, is charged that he and Shane O’Regan conspired together to assault Stephen Lyne, causing him harm contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

The youth named as a fellow conspirator on the charge, Shane O’Regan, died earlier this year after a fall in a house in Tralee.

The charges relate to June 16, 2009, at Ross Road, Killarney, and to between the evening of June 17 and the morning of June 18, 2009, also at Ross Road.

Ollo, a low-sized youth with cropped hair, appeared in court dressed in a brick red hoodie and tracksuit pants. He was granted bail.

Det Garda Batt Lynch, Killarney, giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution on Monday evening, said Ollo had replied “No” to both charges.

Garda Inspector Barry O’Rourke said the charges were serious and would be tried in the Circuit Court.

The accused, he said, was not Irish.

In relation to bail, the inspector said he was seeking a number of conditions and an independent surety of €5,000, along with Ollo’s own €1,000 bond.

Under bail conditions, the accused is to hand up his passport and sign on at Killarney Garda Station three days a week. He must also notify gardaí of any change of address, or if he intends to leave the country.

Solicitor Pat F O’Connor, for the accused, said his client was a multimedia student at Tralee Community College, having completed a course at the KDYS (Kerry Diocesan Youth Services).

Mr O’Connor also applied to have the signing on times at the Garda station amended so that his client could get the bus each morning to Tralee to attend college.

Stephen Lyne, 17, of Castle Falls, Ross Road, was found dead with stab wounds within a few hundred metres of his home in the early hours of June 18, 2009.

Gardaí subsequently launched a murder investigation.

The late Mr Lyne had been a student at Killarney Community College.

Yesterday’s charges were the first to be brought in connection with the matter.

His solicitor, Padraig O’Connell, told mourners at Mr O’Regan’s funeral Mass in August, he had died without a stain on his character.