Jury in murder trial of Cavan man fails to reach verdict

A jury at the trial of a Cavan man accused of murder has failed to reach a verdict.

The jury of eight women and four men had been deliberating since Monday, for almost six hours, before the foreman told Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy that they could not come to a unanimous or majority decision.

Trevor McCabe (aged 34), Mountpleasant, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan pleaded not guilty to murdering Darren McGrath (33) in Belturbet, Co Cavan on May 20th last year.

It was the prosecution’s case that Mr McCabe shot Mr McGrath as he slept.

They said that Mr McCabe entered the house with a shotgun at approximately 5am, shot Mr McGrath twice, and then drove away.

During the trial, the court heard from Nicole Lennon (20), who said that she had been asleep beside Mr McGrath, her partner, at their home in Belturbet, when she woke up and saw a man standing above her.

She looked at her partner and “heard a bang”.

Ms Lennon told the court that she recognised the assailant as Mr McCabe.

He was wearing a mask, which concealed his face from the nose down, the court heard.

Ms Lennon said that she knew Mr McCabe prior to the alleged murder.

He was at her and Mr McGrath’s daughter’s christening and was there when the baby was born, the court heard.

“I thought him and Darren were friends. I don’t know why this would happen,” Ms Lennon said.

Neighbour, Darren Murphy, told the court that he saw two men running away from the estate after the shooting.

“The second man stopped at a corner. He had something covering his mouth and nose. He looked back at the houses. After he stopped, he took off running as best he could.

Mr Murphy said that the man was “impaired with a bad limp”.

The court heard that Mr McCabe suffered a road traffic accident in 2007 and walked with a “distinct limp”.

Patrick McKiernan (33) told the court that he spent May 19 last year with Mr McCabe, and that they drank that evening on Mr McCabe’s boat on Lough Erne, near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

Mr McKiernan said that they left the boat “several hours” after sunset, drove to Belturbet and “ended up at Darren McGrath’s house”.

He said that he woke up when the car stopped.

Mr McCabe went into the house and Mr McKiernan got out a “little while” after.

“I thought there was a party on in Darren’s house,” he said.

He followed the accused into the house.

Mr McKiernan told the court that he heard the deceased’s partner screaming.

“I met Trevor on the stairs. He said: ‘Get out.’ We both left then.”

Mr McKiernan said that he saw Mr McCabe with a “short shotgun” when they were leaving the house.

The court also heard that a bag containing various items of clothing, including an Adidas jacket and combat trousers, was found in a Spar shop in Dromore, Co Tyrone the evening after the alleged murder.

Firearms residue was found on the jacket and the trousers, the court heard.

The prosecution said that Mr McCabe was wearing clothes on the morning of the alleged murder “similar” to those clothes.

The defence said that a “matter of very considerable significance” in the trial was the evidence that Mr McCabe’s DNA was not found on the jacket.

“If that is the case, [the assailant] cannot be Trevor McCabe.”

Mr McCabe has been remanded in custody and the jury has been discharged.