A judge will today decide whether a murder trial should be delayed pending the outcome of a separate Garda investigation.
In the Central Criminal Court yesterday afternoon, Mr Justice Murphy said he would consider overnight a fresh submission from counsel for the DPP arguing for an adjournment in the interests of fairness to the accused.
The judge had earlier in the day rejected a defence application seeking an adjournment.
The trial of a Limerick man, Mr Raymond Casey, and another accused who cannot be named had been expected to start yesterday morning but it was delayed for the defence application.
Mr Casey (36), of Ashe Avenue, John Carew Park, Limerick, and a youth who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the killing have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of a barman, Mr Noel Pyper (48), in a laneway off Newenham Street in the city on August 12th, 1997.
Yesterday morning, Mr Justice Murphy rejected an application by Mr Casey's legal team seeking all documents relating to a separate Garda investigation. The judge said that an affidavit grounding the application was "clearly hearsay". He refused an adjournment and said the trial should proceed today.
Counsel for the DPP, Mr Edward Comyn SC, said the contents of the defence application were reported in a national newspaper last Saturday. Objecting to it, he said that "publication not of what was said in court but the publication of what is going to be said in court at a time when a trial is about to take place is in my opinion improper".
Counsel for Mr Casey, Ms Grainne McMorrow SC, told the judge that under no circumstances had the defence legal team had any contact with the press. She sought discovery of all documents pertaining to the Garda investigation into the McBrearty case in Co Donegal and an adjournment of the trial to allow the defence time to consider them.
Rejecting the application, Mr Justice Murphy said: "There are no facts adduced in the affidavit that would give me any grounds to adjourn. I am concerned that allegations have been made of a serious nature in open court, albeit in the absence of witnesses, that are grounded in hearsay."
However, yesterday afternoon, counsel for the DPP returned to court and told the judge that the DPP was giving certain directions in relation to the matter and that in fairness to the accused, was agreeing that there should be an adjournment until the investigation was complete.
Mr Justice Murphy will decide today whether an adjournment will be granted.