Jurors in Kieran Quilligan murder trial raise concerns over photographs of them in court

Kieran Quilligan (pictured) is alleged to have been murdered on a date unknown between September 1, 2023, and January 29, 2024, at an unknown location within the state in the District Court area of Cork City. Photo: Facebook

The jury in the Kieran Quilligan murder trial taking place at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork brought to the judge’s attention their concerns that someone in the courtroom may have photographed them on Friday.

A note from the jury was passed through the jury foreman to the court for the attention of Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford in which it was stated that a photograph may have been taken of them by a person in the courtroom.

Ms Justice Lankford said: “We took what you said very seriously. A group of students from a language school — primarily from Chile — are in court. One of those students took out his phone. He is certainly not anyone connected with any matters in this case.

You don’t have anything to be concerned about. He did something extremely foolish. But he did not do anything to make your lives any more difficult. 

"He took out his phone, played with it — he may or may not have taken a snap of the courtroom set-up.” 

The judge said it was not a matter with which the jury need be concerned.

As the presentation of CCTV evidence in the case was about to commence there were further notes from the jury about matters concerning them. One of those notes related to them coming in and out of the courthouse at Anglesea Street over the last couple of days.

The judge told the jury that the courts throughout the building dealt with criminal cases and it was not unusual to see people dressed in particular ways that the jury had described, including wearing tracksuits and baseball caps. 

Furthermore, the judge said when they were leaving the building for lunch they had a jury minder who is a member of An Garda Síochána who would be very observant about anything untoward.

27-year-old Luke Taylor, formerly of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, Cork, and 33-year-old Niall Long, formerly of St. Michael’s Close, Mahon, Cork, are on trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork facing the same charge of murder. 

The murder count which each man denies, states that on a date unknown between September 1, 2023, and January 29, 2024, at an unknown location within the state in the District Court area of Cork City he did murder Kieran Quilligan, contrary to Common Law.

When the jury returned this afternoon the judge returned to the issue about a possible photograph and said the student had left the courtroom but the authorities hoped to have back in the court on Monday, October 13.

The judge repeated her reassurance to the 10 men and two women of the jury: “He was using his phone as he should not have been but it is a relatively innocent matter, we think.”

CCTV evidence

All of today’s evidence was of CCTV footage from various locations in Cork City relevant to the investigation. Prosecution barrister Paula McCarthy described each clip briefly before they were played by Sergeant Pat Russell who is managing the CCTV aspect of the investigation.

The judge and jury saw 111 clips today, many of them showing parties to the case at various different locations on September 1, 2023. There is a lot more CCTV evidence to come in the case as the number of segments — some of them only a few seconds long — runs to a total of over 400 clips.