The jury in the trial of a 24-year-old man charged with the murder of Dylan McCarthy during a disturbance outside a pub in a Kildare town nearly three years ago has been told that they can now return a majority verdict.
The jurors have been deliberating for three days at the Central Criminal Court in the case of Calvin Dunne (24), who denies murdering Mr McCarthy (29) outside the Bellyard pub in Monasterevin in 2022.
It is the State’s case that Mr McCarthy died following an incident in which he received both punches and “a vicious kick” to the head from Mr Dunne while he was attempting to get up off the ground.
One eyewitness told the jury that there was “a loud thud” like someone “kicking a football” when Mr McCarthy was struck in the head.
The jury heard that Mr Dunne argues he was acting in self-defence and that Mr McCarthy was himself “involved in violence” on the night.
“I only got involved in this fight as Dylan and his party were out of control and extremely violent,” Mr Dunne told gardaí, going on to say that he “lightly kicked” Mr McCarthy to what he believed was “the chest area”.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers has told the jury that it is not possible to determine whether a punch or kick caused the fatal injury that led to the death of Dylan McCarthy.
Mr Dunne (24), of Abbey View, Monasterevin, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McCarthy on or about August 22nd, 2022. He has also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on August 21st, 2022, at Dublin Road, Monasterevin.
Just after 3pm on Thursday, Ms Justice Caroline Burns reminded the jury that the deliberation process in a criminal trial has stages to it, the first stage of which is that only a unanimous verdict can be returned. She said that sufficient time has to pass or a jury has to indicate they are at an impasse before the deliberation process can move on to stage two.
Saying that “we are now at stage two”, Ms Justice Burns told the jury that she was required to inform them to continue to strive to reach unanimity, but if they cannot then the court can accept a majority verdict of ten to two.
Telling the jury that the majority verdict can go no lower than that, she asked them to continue their deliberations with that added element, with the members going on to consider their verdict for a further 30 minutes before breaking for the day.
In her legal charge to the jury last week, Ms Justice Biggs said that there are three verdicts open to them: guilty of murder; not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter; or not guilty of murder or manslaughter.
She said that for a verdict of guilty of murder, the jury had to be convinced that Mr Dunne’s actions substantially contributed to the death of Mr McCarthy and that he intended to kill or cause him serious injury.
On the issue of self-defence, Ms Justice Biggs said a person may lawfully use force to defend themselves or another person under attack, but the force that can be used is only such as is reasonable in the circumstances as the person believes it to be.
The jury of ten men and two women will now continue their deliberations tomorrow, which will be their fourth day of deliberations.
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