Two people charged in connection with the collapse of a high profile murder trial almost three years ago have received community service orders.
David Murphy (21), Lee Estate, Limerick and Amanda McNamara (23), formerly of Lee Estate, Limerick, were charged with events which led to the collapse of the Liam Keane murder trial in November 2003 at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
The murder trial collapsed after a number of other people, including the two accused, denied making statements identifying Mr Keane as the killer of 19-year-old Eric Leamy.
Liam Keane, who was charged with his murder, walked free from the Central Criminal Court in Dublin after the DPP ordered that a nolle prosequi should be entered with his presumption of innocence still intact.
Mr Leamy died on August 28th, 2001, after he suffered a fatal stab wound to his side.
Before imposing community service orders on both of the accused yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran described their behaviour as serious, because it went "to undermine the whole fabric of the criminal justice system".
Amanda McNamara, who admitted committing perjury at the high-profile murder trial, was due to give evidence that she saw Liam Keane stab Eric Leamy, Judge Moran said. "Her evidence would have been that she saw Liam Keane stab Eric Leamy and also that she saw him strike the injured party with a piece of timber," the judge said.
"Her evidence would have been important in supporting the prosecution's case against Mr Keane," he added.
When called to give evidence at the trial however, McNamara said she couldn't remember what she had seen because she was an alcoholic and a drug addict, and that what she had told gardaí was based on rumours.
McNamara, a mother of one, later admitted to gardaí that she had lied about not being able to remember and her admission resulted in the subsequent perjury charge. Judge Moran said he had to take into account that this admission helped gardaí charge her with perjury, an offence which is "notoriously difficult to prosecute, let alone get a conviction on", added Judge Moran. He also accepted Garda evidence that McNamara was motivated by fear for herself and her family, when she refused to give evidence at the murder trial.
Judge Moran also accepted that David Murphy, who pleaded guilty to a charge of contempt of court at the same trial, was also acting out of fear and that a "regime of fear" had existed in the area where he lived.
At a previous court hearing, Judge Moran heard that Murphy told gardaí he would rather spend six months in jail than give evidence at the trial.
"I can come out of prison but I can't come out of a box," Mr Murphy said.
Judge Moran said the appropriate sentence for each charge was six months but instead he imposed a community service order of 150 hours on Murphy and 100 hours for McNamara.