Court remands teenager accused of schoolgirl's murder

The teenager accused of murdering 12-year-old Michaela Davis in West Dublin has been remanded in custody until September 24 during a brief court appearance this morning.

Jonathan Byrne of Lohunda Downs in Clonsilla was arrested at the weekend after the schoolgirl's body was found on a bank of the Royal Canal last Saturday.

Dressed in the same grey hooded top and jeans he wore at last Monday's court appearance Jonathan Byrne was further remanded in custody this morning in a hearing lasting barely a minute.

He was arrested at the weekend after the body of Michaela Davis was found in undergrowth at the Royal Canal near her home in Porterstown last Saturday.

The 18-year-old is charged with murdering the 12-year-old who had just started secondary school.

A post mortem found she had been strangled.

She was laid to rest following a funeral mass at St Mochta's church yesterday.