The jury in the trial of Ruth Lawrence, who is accused of shooting a drug dealer and working “as a unit” with her boyfriend to murder him and another man, has been given the option of returning a majority verdict.
The panel of four men and eight women began considering their verdict on Thursday afternoon and has spent a total of eight hours and 21 minutes over three days deliberating at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.
The five-week trial heard that Ms Lawrence was extradited from South Africa to face trial in 2023, nearly a decade after the bodies of Anthony Keegan (33) and Eoin O’Connor (32) were found on a lake island in the midlands.
Ms Lawrence (46), originally from Clontarf, Dublin, but with an address at Patricks Cottage, Ross, Mountnugent, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Keegan and Mr O’Connor at an unknown location within the State on a date between April 22nd, 2014, and May 26th, 2014.
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At 2.24pm on Monday, the jury handed a note to Mr Justice Tony Hunt asking how they should proceed if they were not “unanimous on a verdict” and when they could “use” the alternative verdict of “guilty of assisting an offender”.
The judge said he was able to provide them with further guidance, given they had been deliberating for almost seven hours at that stage.
He said it was appropriate for them to move on to the next stage and he could accept a majority verdict on one or both counts, provided at least 10 of them agreed.
There are three verdicts the jury can return in relation to each of the two murder charges against Ms Lawrence; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of assisting an offender; or not guilty.
Addressing the jury as to when they could use the alternative verdict of “guilty of assisting an offender”, the judge said this was a “fallback” as they were initially asked to deliberate on murder verdicts on a separate basis.
He said the alternative verdict only arose if they were satisfied Ms Lawrence was not guilty on the murder charges.
“It can’t be used as a substitute or a broker verdict,” he added.
The judge said the verdict of “not guilty simpliciter” was open to them but “on the run of the case that’s a theoretical consideration”.
The jury asked to go home for the evening at 4pm, which the judge said they were entitled to do. He said he assumed they had not reached a verdict on which at least 10 of them agreed and asked them to return to the Central Criminal Court on Thursday.
