A jury was sent to a hotel tonight in the trial of a Chinese man accused of the double murder of two of his friends in Dublin two years ago.
Mr Yu Jie (25) with a last address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, denies the murder of 19-year-olds Mr Yue Feng and Ms Liu Qing in an apartment at Blackhall Square, North King Street, Dublin, at times between March 12th and March 14th 2001.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Yu Jie strangled the couple on March 12th and returned in the early hours of March 14th to set fire to their bodies.
The jury retired this afternoon after what has been so far, the longest trial in Irish legal history.
Mr Justice Henry Abbott told the jurors that in his view, a verdict of manslaughter was not open to them in the case.
One of the original 12 members of the jury passed away during the course of the 58-day trial, and 11 jurors remain to decide verdicts. They deliberated for over two hours this evening.