Accused a protected prisoner, trial hears

The teenager charged with murdering Melanie McCarthy McNamara was a protected prisoner when he allegedly wrote a letter containing the phrase: ‘Two in the head. The bitch is dead’.

Daniel McDonnell’s murder trial heard he had a cell to himself and no contact with other prisoners for his own protection when detained in St Patrick’s Institution on suspicion of the murder. It also heard that he would have known his post would be read.

Mr McDonnell, aged 19, of Brookview Lawns in Tallaght has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms McCarthy McNamara, aged 16, on Feb 8, 2012, at nearby Brookview Way. She was shot in the head as she sat in a car with her boyfriend and his friend.