A defence lawyer told a jury yesterday that the Garda investigation into the rape and murder of a schoolgirl two years ago was not a murder inquiry but a witch-hunt against his client. Mr Barry White SC made the allegation during his closing speech at the Central Criminal Court.
However, in his closing speech, prosecution counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC said the evidence given by the accused in the witness stand supported the prosecution case.
A 27-year-old Co Galway man denies the rape and murder of a 17-year-old schoolgirl at a beach in December 1998. He cannot be named. Earlier yesterday, the jury heard that one count of rape was withdrawn following legal submissions to Mr Justice Patrick Smith after the case ended last week. A charge of rape with an object remains for the jury to decide along with the murder charge.
The girl's body was found on a rocky foreshore on December 6th, 1998. The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, found that she had died from drowning and, as a contributory cause, compression of the neck.
Mr White is expected to conclude his closing speech today, after which Mr Justice Smith will address the jury.