Jury ask if 'special consideration' be given to age of accused at time of Waterford killing

Dean Kerrie accepted on the stand last Friday that he could be heard shouting "I'll take your life, I hope you're dead. I'll take your life" in the background on the 999-call. Photo: Collins Courts

A jury considering their verdict in the murder trial of a 20-year-old man, who says he was protecting his home when a drunk fisherman entered as a trespasser, has asked the judge whether "special consideration" should be given to the fact the accused was not 18 at the time of the incident.

The jury of seven men and four women will return to the Central Criminal Court on Thursday to consider its verdict for a third day. The 11 jurors have so far spent a total of five hours and 17 minutes deliberating in their jury room in the Criminal Courts of Justice building.

Dean Kerrie (20), with an address at St Brigid's Square, Portarlington in Co. Laois has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jack Power (25) at Shanakiel, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, on July 26, 2018.

Three possible verdicts

On Wednesday morning, the jurors handed Ms Justice Eileen Creedon a note asking about the difference between murder and manslaughter as well as the issue of self-defence. The judge explained the difference between the two offences to the panel and also set out the issue of self-defence.

If, having considered the evidence, the jury finds Mr Kerrie had an honest belief that Mr Power had entered the house as a trespasser to commit a criminal act and they find the force used by Mr Kerrie was reasonable, then the accused was not acting unlawfully and should be acquitted.

If the jury finds that Mr Kerrie had an honest belief that Mr Power entered the house as a trespasser but that the accused employed more force than necessary in the circumstances but no more force than he felt was reasonable, then they must return a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.

If the jury was satisfied that Mr Kerrie knew that the force used by him was excessive then they must return a verdict of murder.

The jury can return three verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Mr Kerrie, namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.

At 2pm, another note was handed up to the judge asking for a clarification about whether "special consideration" should be given to the fact that Mr Kerrie was not 18 years of age at the time of the incident. The trial has heard that the defendant was 17 at the time of the event.

Addressing the jury, Ms Justice Creedon said that they had posed a question to her about the accused's age and asked if any special consideration had to be taken into account. "There are no special considerations that have to be taken into account," she replied.

The jurors also asked to see two knives that were found in the Kerrie house.

In the opening address, prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC said the jury would hear that a black-and-white-handled knife was seized from the hall and swabbed for blood but "curiously no blood was found on the blade". The court heard gardaí found a similar knife partially concealed on the draining board in the kitchen of the house, which did appear to have blood and it was found to contain Mr Power's DNA.

Jury to continue deliberations

At 4pm on Wednesday, Ms Justice Creedon told the jurors that she would release them until Thursday and asked them to come back to the Central Criminal Court at 11am in the morning.

The murder trial has heard that Mr Power sustained a single stab wound to the front of the chest which penetrated his heart.

In his closing speech, defence counsel Ciaran O'Loughlin SC submitted that Mr Kerrie "had no intention to do anything other than protect his own home" and had acted in self-defence that night.

However, prosecution counsel Mr Delaney told the jury that the case of Mr Kerrie "bears out the true folly of taking the law into your own hands". Counsel said the accused could have let Jack Power walk out of his house that night but decided to take the law into his hands "at a level much greater and with much deadlier consequences" than Mr Power intended when he entered the Kerrie home.

Mr Kerrie took to the stand at his own trial last week, telling the jury that the deceased had kicked in the front door of his home, attacked him and threatened to kill his mother.

The accused accepted on the stand last Friday that he could be heard shouting "I'll take your life, I hope you're dead. I'll take your life" in the background on the 999-call.

In her charge to the jury on Tuesday, Ms Justice Creedon said that the accused had raised the issue of self-defence and there was no burden on him to prove that he had acted in self-defence. "The onus of proof always rests on the prosecution and there is no difference with the issue of self-defence. The defence has to prove nothing," she added.

Ms Justice Creedon said the prosecution case is that Mr Kerrie unlawfully killed Mr Power, that he was not acting in self-defence and that the charge of murder had been made out.

The defence case, she said, is that the charge of murder had not been made out and that the accused had acted in self-defence when he stabbed Mr Power.

Ms Justice Creedon told the jurors that they must be unanimous in their verdict before sending them away to begin deliberations on Tuesday afternoon.