Judge tells jury to 'ignore' weekend coverage of O'Reilly case

The judge in the murder trial of Joe O'Reilly today told the jury to ignore media reports of the case, as they are to reach their verdict only on the evidence they hear in court.

It was the second time that Mr Justice Barry White told the jury to disregard any media reports relating to the trial.

He was speaking at the end of the 15th day of the trial of Mr O'Reilly (aged 35) of Lambay View, Baldarragh, Naul, Co Dublin who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Rachel O'Reilly (aged 30) at the family home on October 4th 2004.

Mr Justice Barry White was addressing the jury after the prosecution's evidence had finished for the day.

He reminded them that at the start of the trial, he suggested they pay "little or no heed" to any news reports relating to the trial.

He said: "You may have noticed there has been a large amount of publicity in relation to this case."

Referring specifically to today's media reports of the trial, he said he hadn't read the papers but that he did hear a review of them on the radio.

"It certainly seemed to me that some newspapers were carrying what could be called 'lurid' headlines. At the end of the day, you will decide this case on what you hear in court and nothing else."

He suggested that if they "hadn't already read this morning's paper", they might refrain from doing so.

He added: "if there's publicity over the weekend again, I suggest you kindly ignore it."

The judge also explained why the prosecution's evidence ended after just 25 minutes today.

He explained to them that the prosecution were not "scraping the bottom of the barrel" but "were dealing with witnesses who have important but small roles to play in the enquiry".

He also said "'it was safe to say" the prosecution were nearing the end of their evidence.

Former Viacom employee, Wesley Kearns, said he was working in the company nearly two years before Mr O'Reilly came to work there.

He told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that after about a month of his joining, Mr O'Reilly began to throw his weight around.

He said Mr O'Reilly gave out to him, saying he hadn't put a poster up when he said he had. Mr Kearns said he put the poster up later that day.

Mr Kearns admitted that when the accused fired him sometime later, he threw a fire extinguisher at him. He said Mr O'Reilly then locked himself in his office.

Asked by Mr Vaughan Buckley whether he liked Mr O'Reilly, he said: "I did like him, yeah." He added: "up until he fired me."

Asked what he was doing on the October 4, 2004, he said he went to the Labour Exchange in Clondalkin between 9am and midday.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Ms Anne Rowland BL, Mr Kearns said he was re-employed as a billposter by a sub-contractor.

He said Mr O'Reilly "didn't like that" and that he barred him from one side of the factory.

Garda Robert Kehoe told prosecuting counsel Mr Dominic McGinn that he looked at CCTV footage from Aras Ui Dhalaigh on Church St. covering the period between 8 and 11am on the morning of the murder.

Asked whether he saw a "navy blue Fiat Marea estate" car, he said he was "not in a position to say" he saw a car fitting that description travelling towards the depot on that road that morning.

However, he said that when he looked at footage at 11:11:26: "I did see a silver grey car and immediately following that, a navy blue estate car which was similar to a Fiat Marea estate car, going away from the Broadstone direction, down Church St., and towards the Quays."

He said still photographs from footage from Murphy's Quarry, beside the O'Reilly home, showed a red car at 11.58am and again at 12.07pm.

He said in the first sighting, the car was driving past the quarry in the direction of the O'Reilly home, and that it returned past the quarry away from the O'Reilly home nine minutes later.

Under cross-examination by Mr Patrick Gageby SC, he was asked whether he saw any lorries on Church St when he looked at the footage.

He said: "I was concerned about seeing a Fiat Marea car."

Asked whether there were many lorries, he said: "I can't say how many lorries."

Mr Justice Barry White then asked garda Kehoe whether "Church St. accommodates two lanes of traffic in either direction."

When garda Kehoe said there was, Mr Justice White said: "If there's traffic on the outer lane and there's traffic on the inner lane, what is your position in terms of you being able to view it? [traffic on the outer lane]"

Garda Kehoe said he wouldn't be able to see it. "Obviously I would be obstructed in terms of my viewing that vehicle," he said.

The trial before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of nine men and two women continues on Monday.