The jury in the Kieran Quilligan murder trial taking place at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork brought to the judge’s attention their concerns that someone in the courtroom may have photographed them today.
A note from the jury was passed through the jury foreman to the court for the attention of Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford in which it was stated that a photograph may have been taken of them by a person in the courtroom.
Ms Justice Lankford said: “We took what you said very seriously. A group of students from a language school — primarily from Chile — are in court. One of those students took out his phone. He is certainly not anyone connected with any matters in this case.
“You don’t have anything to be concerned about. He did something extremely foolish. But he did not do anything to make your lives any more difficult.
“He took out his phone, played with it — he may or may not have taken a snap of the courtroom set-up.”
The judge said that it was not a matter with which the jury need be concerned.
As the presentation of CCTV evidence in the case was about to commence, there were further notes from the jury about matters concerning them. One of those notes related to them coming in and out of the courthouse at Anglesea Street over the last couple of days.
The judge told the jury that the courts throughout the building dealt with criminal cases and it was not unusual to see people dressed in particular ways that the jury had described, including wearing of tracksuits and baseball caps.
Furthermore, the judge said that when they were leaving the building for lunch they had a jury minder who is a member of An Garda Síochána who would be very observant about anything untoward.
27-year-old Luke Taylor, formerly of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, Cork, and 33-year-old Niall Long, formerly of St Michael’s Close, Mahon, Cork, are on trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, facing the same charge of murder.
The murder count which each man denies, states that on a date unknown between September 1 2023 and January 29 2024 at an unknown location within the state in the District Court area of Cork city, he did murder Kieran Quilligan, 47, contrary to Common Law.
When the jury returned this afternoon, the judge returned to the issue about a possible photograph and said the student had left the courtroom but the authorities hoped to have him back in the court on Monday, October 13.
The judge repeated her reassurance to the ten men and two women of the jury: “He was using his phone as he should not have been, but it is a relatively innocent matter we think.”