Jury now decides after 20 days of evidence

After 20 days of evidence, the jury in the Rachel O'Reilly murder trial at the Central Criminal Court retired yesterday afternoon to consider their verdict.

The accused, Joe O'Reilly, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife at their home in the Naul, Co Dublin, on October 4th, 2004.

Before sending them out at 3.09pm, in a court crowded to a claustrophobic degree with families, friends, media, gardaí and sightseers (one with a child), Mr Justice Barry White said in his three-hour charge: "I'm like the pope in matters of faith, infallible as far as you are concerned in matters of law."

He also told them that if they thought what they heard from counsel on either side or himself was "nonsense", they should treat it as that.

"You tell yourself, 'this is the greatest load of hogwash I've ever heard. I'm not going to be conned by that.'"

He also revealed his scant regard for the quality of CCTV evidence, when he said that he sometimes watches Crimewatch and thought, "when anyone is asked to identify anyone [ in the footage], well . . . that's a person, no more".

In his down-to-earth language, he sometimes referred to the late Ms O'Reilly simply as "Rachel", rendering her more human in a system which demands a cold and clinical approach.

The jury of nine men and two women was out hardly five minutes before there was a knock on the door from their side, subsequently announced to be a "false alarm".

At 3.30pm, there was a request for flip charts and markers. Five minutes later, they were back at the request of the judge, to allow him give clarification about an e-mail sent by the accused to a friend regarding lunch on October 4th, 2004.

The judge said it was up to themselves how they interpreted that e-mail but he posed the questions for them: "What was the purpose of Mr O'Reilly sending it? Was he generally advising Mr Gallagher that he would be out of the city and in a poor coverage area? Or was it a situation where he didn't want Mr Gallagher seeking to contact him that day. Did he have an ulterior motive?"

Some time later, they were back for a smoking break, a cumbersome exercise by which they are obliged to re-assemble in court - smokers and non-smokers - and be accompanied all together to the yard in the charge of a garda.

At about 5.45pm, they were back in court to request a copy of the statement of Derek Quearney, who provided Joe O'Reilly's alibi for the morning of the killing. As the judge may not hand over the actual copy, he was obliged to read it out to them. This was followed by a request for the evidence of Det Garda Jim McGovern, the garda who had replicated the alleged journey of the accused, from Murphy's Quarry (close to the O'Reilly home in the Naul) back to the inner city.

The jury had deliberated for some three hours before being dispatched to a hotel for the night, at 7.15pm. They resume today at 10.30am.