THE JURY in the trial of Sharon Collins and the man she is alleged to have hired as a hitman to kill her partner and his two sons, was sent to spend its second night in a hotel last night.
The jury of eight men and four women has been deliberating since Monday afternoon.
Sharon Collins (45), Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, and Essam Eid (52), an Egyptian man with a Las Vegas address, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill PJ, Robert and Niall Howard between August 1st, 2006, and September 26th, 2006. Ms Collins also denies hiring Mr Eid to kill the three men.
Mr Eid denies demanding €100,000 from Robert Howard to cancel the contracts.
He also denies breaking into the Howard family business at Westgate Business Park and stealing two computers, some computer cables, a digital clock and a poster of old Irish money and then handling the stolen items.
Yesterday morning the jury asked to see the video of Ms Collins's interviews with gardaí and test results from the British laboratory which tested a contact lens case found in Mr Eid's cell in Limerick Prison.
The jury heard during the trial that the case tested positive for the deadly toxin ricin.
They also asked to see the Advent computer stolen from the offices of Downes Howard, which had been found hidden in bushes at the Two Mile Inn in Limerick where Mr Eid had stayed with his wife, Teresa Engle.
They also asked to see photographs of Mr Eid's Las Vegas home and a letter sent to the DPP by PJ Howard.
Mr Justice Roderick Murphy refused them these two pieces of evidence as they had never been formally produced during the trial.
Shortly before 4pm the jury asked to see documents relating to a PayPal account opened in the name of Mr Eid's other wife, Lisa Eid, which had been used to purchase castor beans and a castor bean plant.
Castor beans are a fundamental constituent of ricin.
The jurors also asked to see a recipe for ricin which FBI agents had found on a computer in Mr Eid's house.
Mr Justice Murphy informed them that these two documents did not exist as evidence in the case.
At 5.25pm, the jurors requested pain killers.
Once they were provided, they took a short break before resuming their deliberations until just after 7pm, when Mr Justice Murphy told them to stop deliberating and relax for the rest of the evening.