THE JURY hearing the trial of murder-accused Brian Kearney will resume its deliberations this morning after retiring to a hotel for the night.
Mr Kearney (51), with an address at Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Siobhán (38), on February 28th, 2006 - his 49th birthday.
The jury of eight women and four men retired to consider their verdict in the case at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin at 3.27pm.
They were called back to be given further direction from Mr Justice Barry White and retired again after a break at 4.28pm.
Mr Justice White told them they were to stop deliberating until the morning when they would resume considering their verdict at 10.30am.
Just after lunch yesterday the judge had resumed his charge to the jury saying that at this point he would like to apologise for earlier referring to the victim as "Rachel" rather than Siobhán.
He had accidentally made the reference to "Rachel" twice as he summarised evidence from the case.
The jury asked to take a break at 3.50pm when the judge made some additional remarks.
Later the jury asked to see again the en-suite door from the Kearney home, a duplicate flex and Dyson vacuum cleaner, as well as evidence of fingerprint expert Det Garda Christopher O'Connor and the evidence of Dr Dorothy Ramsbottom.
Their evidence was then read to the court. The jury retired again at 4.58pm.
In summarising the prosecution and defence cases, Mr Justice White said the Director of Public Prosecutions, led by Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, contended that Mr Kearney had tried to make it look like his wife had committed suicide.
"They say the accused entered the bedroom.
"He attempted a manual strangulation and then the flex was used for the purpose of completing matters," Mr Justice White said.
"It is their contention that the key [to the bedroom] was slipped under the door [ which was locked] and the accused left the deceased in that state and went off to work."
He said the defence, led by Patrick Gageby SC, said there was no history of violence, no suggestion of an affair and no bitter custody battle between the couple, who were separating, and "there was nothing to suggest that any separation was going to be anything other than amicable", Mr Justice White added.
The defence said Mr Kearney was not under pressure financially and the prosecution could not "corral" the evidence to suit them.
DNA evidence taken from the flex had ruled out Mr Kearney and evidence from State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy had not ruled out the possibility that death had been caused by a low-level suspension hanging where Ms Kearney's full weight would not have been borne by the flex.
The judge said that the defence claimed the State had not made out a case that her death was not suicide and accordingly the jury should acquit.
Earlier Mr Justice White had started his charge to the jury of eight women and four men just before 11.30am, saying it was the 12 of them who had to decide the facts in the case.
"You are here to determine what happened in the Kearney house on the morning of February 28th, 2006."
He would advise them on the law but they had to coolly, dispassionately and analytically evaluate the evidence starting from the point where Mr Kearney was innocent and working through to any point where that presumption of innocence was removed.
"Say to yourselves, I'm not a juror sitting in judgment of Brian Kearney, I am Brian Kearney, how would I feel if I was convicted?"
Where they encountered two possible interpretations of the evidence, one in favour of the him and another in favour of the prosecution, they must give the accused the benefit of the doubt unless the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, he said.
Mr Kearney had not given evidence and the jurors were not to read anything adverse into that because it was his right.
They could, however, take into account statements he gave to gardaí.
He said circumstantial evidence was not inferior evidence but evidence from which facts of the case could be inferred and reasonable conclusions drawn.
Mr Justice White went on to outline the evidence presented in the courtroom over the past 12 days, telling the jurors one of the matters they would have to consider is whether Ms Kearney had committed suicide.
Her friend Anne Clohessy, who saw her for dinner the night before her death, told the court she did not think Ms Kearney would kill herself.
"It's not Miss Clohessy's belief, it's what your belief is in relation to suicide.
"As Mr Gageby said, people do commit suicide without flagging it in advance, so to speak, without giving any indication."
Mr Justice White spent time going over evidence given by forensic experts, including retired forensic scientist Dr Michael Norton, who had initially told the court he thought the vacuum cleaner flex had been cut, while evidence of Dr Neal Murphy, who carried out experiments, suggested the flex had snapped cleanly.
Tests carried out by Dr Murphy showed the flex would cleanly snap after five seconds under a weight of 54kg, similar to Ms Kearney's weight.
Mr Justice White also told them Prof Cassidy had told the court if the flex snapped after that time it would be possible for a person to recover.