Judge threatens to send media reports to AG

A trial judge today threatened to send various media reports to the Attorney General in connection with the coverage of the trial of five Limerick men accused of murder.

Mr Justice Paul Carney told the jury he had, that morning, perused various media reports and found a huge amount of them to be inaccurate and prejudicial.

He said it was not just tabloid newspapers he found to be at fault but also broadsheets that were out create mischief.

Instructing the jury to ignore anything they may read, hear or watch on TV, Mr Justice Carney said that he had the power to put jurors into a hotel to protect them from the media.

He said he had absolute faith and confidence in the jury that they would act on the evidence before them and not on anything they might glean from the media.

He told the court he may later refer some of the growing amount of material to the Attorney General to consider what steps may be appropriate.

The jury returned to the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cloverhill Courthouse this afternoon after various legal matters were discussed in their absence in the morning.

They were then shown various photographic exhibits showing the body of the deceased man, Kieran Keane, and injuries to Owen Treacy, the chief prosecution witness in the case.

Detective Garda Austin O’Callaghan, of the Technical Bureau, told the court he visited a site at Drombana, Limerick and took a number of photographs.

Asked to describe a book of four photos, he said the first was of "the body of the deceased Kieran Keane".

Photograph number two showed Mr Keane’s head, while numbers three and four were of the deceased with his hands tied behind his back and of staining underneath a tarpaulin at the gates of a partially-constructed house.

Other photos circulated to the jury showed injuries to the face, head, arms and chest of Owen Treacy, which were taken on February 2 while he was in hospital.

Another witness, Detective Garda Gerard Fitzgerald, told the jury that he accompanied Mr Treacy as he pointed out a number of locations in Limerick including Fairgreen, Roundwood Estate, Rosbrien and Drombana, Bushy Island, Limerick.

The five accused have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kieran Keane (aged 36) of Garryowen House, Greenhills Road, Garryowen Limerick, at Drombana, Bushy Island, Co Limerick on January 29 last and to the false imprisonment of Mr Keane on the same date.

They also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Keane's nephew, Owen Treacy (aged 31) of St Munchin's Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick on January 29, 2003 on the same date and the same location and to falsely imprisoning Mr Treacy.

They are: Desmond Dundon (aged 20) of Hyde Road, Limerick; David Stanners (aged 31) of Pineview Gardens, Moyross; James McCarthy (aged 24) of Delmege Park, Moyross; Christopher "Smokie" Costelloe (aged 20) Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty Beg and Anthony McCarthy (aged 21) of Fairgreen, Garryowen.

The trial before Mr Justice Carney and the jury continues tomorrow.