No verdict yet in Keegan murder trial

The jury in the trial of a 22-year-old Dubliner accused of murdering a man after pretending he had drugs for him, was sent home this evening after failing to reach a verdict at the Central Criminal Court.

The six men and six women deliberated for more than four hours yesterday, before telling the court they wished to break after failing to agree a verdict in the case of Warren Graham.

The accused, of Shancastle Lawn in Clondalkin, has denied murdering Paul Keegan (aged 42), in a laneway in Walkinstown in December 2007.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of having an imitation gun with intent to cause robbery on the same date.

He jury has heard that Mr Graham admitted to gardaí that he stabbed Mr Keegan in the back during a drugs “rip”.

However, he said he was acting in defence of his friend, who was engaged in a struggle with the deceased and kept screaming for help.

The court heard that Mr Graham and a friend went to the lane to pretend they had 50 kilos of hash for the deceased and his friend, Thomas Maher.

They were instructed by a third party to use a knife and an imitation firearm to intimidate the men and get them to hand over money for the drugs.

But the rip went badly wrong after Mr Maher fled the scene and Mr Keegan tried to wrestle the air gun from the accused's friend.

Mr Graham told gardaí that he chased Mr Maher down the lane, but returned on hearing his friend screaming for him to come back.

He said the two men were covered in blood and Mr Keegan, whom he described as the “huge fella”, was punching his friend, who was hitting the deceased over the head with the air gun.

His friend wouldn't stop screaming “jab him, jab him” he said, so he “just ran in and done it.”

“I panicked, I had the knife and I just stabbed him...I didn't mean to kill him...I just wanted to get him off (my friend).”

The accused said he only remembered stabbing Mr Keegan twice, but the jury heard that the deceased sustained four stab wounds, the deepest of which was 19cm.

His heart and spleen were penetrated by the 15cm long blade.

The prosecution has argued that Mr Graham is guilty of murder because the force he used was “grossly disproportionate” and his main intention was escape and not the rescue of his friend.

But the defence says Mr Graham believed it was necessary to do what he died, faced as he was with “two extremely large men”.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said if they believe the force used by the accused was reasonable, objectively speaking, they must acquit him.

However, he said they should return a verdict of manslaughter if they believe the prosecution has proved that he did not subjectively believe the force used was reasonable.

He said the verdict of guilty of murder is also open to them.

The jury is due to resume their deliberations today.