Jury fails to reach verdict in Urantsetseg Tserendorj murder trial

After more than eight hours considering their verdict, jury returned on Wednesday afternoon and said following 'multiple reviews' of the evidence they were unable to agree on a verdict

The accused has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Urantsetseg Tserendorj (pictured) but guilty to her manslaughter. File photo

A jury at the Central Criminal Court has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a 16-year-old accused of murdering Urantsetseg Tserendorj during a winter lockdown in 2021.

The teenager had accepted that he stabbed Ms Tserendorj in the neck causing her death but his lawyers argued he was trying to rob her and did not intend to kill or cause her serious harm. They asked the jury to find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The jury, having spent more than eight hours considering their verdict, returned on Wednesday afternoon and said that following "multiple reviews" of the evidence they were unable to agree on a verdict. They had been told by the trial judge, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring that they could return a verdict if 10 of them agreed.

Ms Justice Ring said it was a difficult case and thanked the jury for their duty.

The case will go back into the Central Criminal Court list.

The accused, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Tserendorj but guilty to her manslaughter on January 29, 2021. The State did not accept his plea. 

He also pleaded guilty to producing a knife and to attempting to rob Ms Tserendorj on a walkway between George’s Dock and Custom House Quay in the IFSC, Dublin on January 20, 2021.