THE trial of Mr Patrick Gillane, charged with soliciting two men to murder his wife, will start at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on June 30th, 1997.
Mrs Philomena Gillane was killed in May 1994 and her body discovered in the boot of her car at Athlone railway station. Mr Gillane (34), of Glenbrack, Gort, Co Galway has denied the charge of soliciting the two men in Dublin in January 1994.
Mrs Gillane, a cook who worked in Dublin, was seven months pregnant when she was killed. She had been shot in the back and stabbed several times. No one has been charged with her murder.
Setting the trial date yesterday in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Kieran O'Connor remanded Mr Gillane on continuing bail. Mr Patrick MacEntee, defending, said there were 34 witnesses in the case and it would take three to four days.
The case went for trial at Galway Circuit Court earlier this year but was abandoned after Mrs Gillane's mother, Mrs Nonie Gordon, collapsed and died in the courtroom, as the trial was opening. She was scheduled to be the first prosecution witness.
It was transferred to Dublin on the application of Mr MacEntee who said Mrs Gordon's death had been widely publicised and discussed ad infinitum in the Galway area.
In the circumstances it was not possible for his client to have a fair trial in Galway or to be seen to have a fair trial there, counsel argued.
At that sitting, Judge Raymond Groarke had said that while he was not satisfied an injustice to the accused man would result if the trial went ahead in Galway, justice had also to be seen to be done.