A murder trial collapsed at the Central Criminal Court yesterday because the judge said he could not hear the prosecuting counsel during his closing speech.
Mr Justice Paul Carney made his comments at the conclusion of the trial of John O'Neill (56), of Mercer House flats, Mercer Street, Dublin, who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter, but not guilty to the murder, of Rosemary Dowling (49), whose naked body was found wrapped in bedclothes outside his flat on October 25th last year.
He claimed he lost control of himself and began hitting her with a lump hammer after she bit his penis. She died from head injuries and had been hit at least 14 times with the weapon. The jury had already risen to consider its verdict after hearing three days of evidence.
Mr Justice Carney said the closing speech made by Gerard Clarke SC was "mumbled and muttered" and said he was seeking a new jury to try the case.
The dramatic collapse followed a submission by counsel for the accused, Brendan Grehan SC, who said a speech given by the prosecution was "grossly misleading and inflammatory" and beyond the realms of what might normally be included in a closing speech.
He was referring to a speech made by Mr Clarke in which he told the jury: "Rosemary Dowling is dead. She can't tell you what happened, what it felt like to have the first blow of the lump hammer hit her on the head, the second, the third, what it felt like to have her brain damaged and whether she was conscious or not when the blade went into her neck.
"She has no voice in this case but in a way, ladies and gentlemen, you can be her voice and if she could speak now, she would say John O'Neill murdered me." For the defence, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, said he had never heard of such a thing in a closing speech before and said every single person who was killed would be asking them the same thing. He later asked the judge for the jury to be discharged.
However, Mr Justice Carney said he could not adjudicate on the matter as he had not heard parts of the speech. He said: "It was quite a bit of muttering as far as I was concerned and I have to discharge the jury on that account." He called for the jury to be brought back in and told them;
"According to the submission made by the defence the prosecution speech, which was a short and quiet one, was in effect the most inflammatory ever given in this State and legally grossly misleading. You may have heard the speech because it was directed clearly at you. I couldn't hear enough to adjudicate on the submissions made to me. Accordingly I have to withdraw the case from you."
He put the case back to the next list to fix dates where he said the trial judge would be able to adequately hear the case made by either side.