Jury begins deliberations in trial of Michael Scott who denies murdering aunt Chrissie Treacy

A jury has begun considering their verdict in the trial of farmer Michael Scott who denies murdering his 76-year-old aunt Chrissie Treacy by running over her in an agricultural teleporter.

Before beginning their deliberations on Friday afternoon 12 members of the 15-person jury were selected to continue while the other three were discharged.

At the start of the trial 15 were selected due to fears that some members would not be able to continue through a trial that began in January and was expected to last three months. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs thanked the three jurors who had been discharged and exempted them from further jury service for life.

The 12 remaining jurors will return to the Central Criminal Court on Monday to resume their deliberations having spent a little more than one hour deliberating on Friday.

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Ms Justice Biggs earlier told the jury that if they are satisfied that the prosecution has proven to the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Scott intended to kill or cause serious injury to his aunt when he ran her over, they must return a murder verdict.

“If you find that there is a reasonable possibility that this was an accident, that he didn’t see her, you are duty bound to find him not guilty of murder,” she said.

If their verdict is not guilty of murder, Ms Justice Biggs said the jury must then consider whether Mr Scott is guilty of manslaughter due to gross negligence. If the prosecution has not satisfied the jury that Mr Scott is guilty of either murder or manslaughter, Ms Justice Biggs told them they must acquit and write “not guilty” on the issue paper.

She told the jurors to take their time and consider all of the evidence they have heard.

Ms Justice Biggs spent three days going through the evidence in the trial and the legal principles that the jury will apply during their deliberations.

Mr Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway has pleaded not guilty to murdering his aunt Christina ‘Chrissie’ Treacy outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna, Co Galway on April 27th, 2018.

The trial has heard that Mr Scott told gardaí he was reversing the teleporter across the yard outside Ms Treacy’s home when he felt a “thump” and thought he might have struck a trailer. He said he rolled the machine forward to level ground and when he got out of the cabin he found Ms Treacy lying on the ground.

The prosecution case is that Mr Scott deliberately reversed over Ms Treacy following a long-running dispute over land. Mr Scott’s lawyers have told the Central Criminal Court that her death was a tragic accident.