Murder trial of homeless man to spend second day in legal argument

The trial of a homeless man accused of murdering a Dublin pensioner in his home will spend a second day in legal argument tomorrow.

The jury has been told not to return until Wednesday, after both sides spent yesterday (Monday) resolving legal issues in its absence.

Stephen Byrne (aged 36) has pleaded not guilty to killing 70-year-old William Traynor in his house on St Francis Terrace, Bow Street on June 17, 2007.

Fire-fighters found the elderly man badly beaten that evening, after being called to a small fire in his home. He died from his injuries two days later in Beaumont Hospital.

The trial before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men has now entered its second week.