Update 5.10pm: The jurors in David Mahon’s murder trial have been told they can also consider a manslaughter verdict.
The 12 men and women have been told they will have three options open to them: Guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.
They are due to begin their deliberations tomorrow.
Update 3.55pm: The prosecution’s case in David Mahon’s murder trial has been described as one based on “hysteria and hypocrisy” to mislead the jury.
The 45-year-old denies stabbing his stepson Dean Fitzpatrick outside his apartment at Northern Cross in Dublin in May 2013.
The prosecution’s case is that Dave Mahon murdered Dean during an altercation over a stolen water bottle.
He admits holding the knife that killed his stepson, but claims he walked into it either by “accident” or because he wanted to.
Sean Guerin, Senior Counsel for Mr. Mahon, spent three hours delivering his closing address today.
He accused the prosecution of striving come hell or high water to secure a conviction by misrepresenting medical evidence.
He said his client had no motive to kill. Given his relationship with Dean’s mother Audrey, he said he had every reason not to kill or harm the 23-year-old.
He asked the jurors to apply reason and common sense in their deliberations and to test the credibility of the prosecution, which – in his words – has presented a threadbare case that collapsed beneath it.
The six men and six women will begin their deliberations after Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan has summed up the evidence and explained the law to them.
Earlier: David Mahon’s barrister has accused the prosecution in his trial of “grossly exaggerating” the fatal injury suffered by his stepson.
The 45-year-old denies murdering Dean Fitzpatrick outside his apartment at Northern Cross in Dublin in May 2013.
In his closing speech on Friday, Remy Farrell, senior counsel for the DPP, accused Dave Mahon of lying to Gardaí.
He also accused him of doing everything he could to cover his tracks and described his “suicide by stepfather” theory as a “fantastical suggestion”.
Today was the turn of Mr. Mahon’s barrister to speak to the six men and six women of the jury for a final time.
Sean Guerin began by suggesting that the case had all the hallmarks of a prosecution that is striving come hell or high water to secure a conviction.
He said the use of the word “gutted” to describe the 23-year-old’s injury was a “gross exaggeration” designed to disgust the jurors and portray the accused as some sort of butcher or savage.
The judge will summarise the evidence and explain the law to the jurors once the defence has finished its closing speech.
They will then be asked to consider a verdict.
