Limerick murder trial reaches closing stages
Closing stages have been reached in the trial of a Limerick man accused of murder at the Central Criminal Court.
Kevin Coughlan (aged 29), of Avondale Drive, Greystones, Limerick has pleaded not guilty to murdering Francis Greene at Steamboat Quay on a date unknown between November 28 and November 29, 2009.
He has pleaded not guilty to the false imprisonment of Mr Greene between Lower Hartstonge Street and Steamboat Quay in Limerick on November 28 2009.
Mr Coughlan also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Roy Finn and not guilty to the production of a knife during that alleged assault at Lower Hartstonge Street on 28 November 2009.
The court heard the 47-year-old’s body was found six weeks later on a bank of the River Shannon on farming land at Portrine, Co. Clare on February 5, 2010.
Mr Paddy McCarthy SC defending told the jury Mr Greene did not die by jumping into the river.
“This is not a case, I suggest to you of suicide,” said Mr McCarthy.
“I say in this case a verdict of murder is open to you on the evidence because Kevin Coughlan caused the death of Francis Greene,” he added.
“In this case the precise manner in which Mr Greene was killed, and murdered, we say by Kevin Coughlan, is not clear from the evidence,” he said.
Mr Anthony Sammon SC defending told the jury his client said Mr Greene jumped into the river and he said that fitted in with evidence of his suicide ideation, impulsive behaviour and the amphetamine found in his system in a toxicology report.
He said there was no evidence of strangulation and he said his client has said he did not push Mr Greene in.
Mr Sammon told them they had to approach the allegation of murder by taking all the evidence and said that the question of intention was important.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy told the jury it was not necessary for the prosecution to prove the medical cause of death and they do not have to prove exactly how it occurred.
He said the prosecution must prove the death was caused by the accused and they must prove his state of mind.
“It is only with a relevant state of mind that you can convict him,” said the judge.
The judge is to resume addressing the jury of 10 men and two women tomorrow.
