Jury deliberations in Doneraile murder trial to head into sixth day

Jury deliberations will go into their sixth day tomorrow in the Doneraile murder trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

The juror who was absent on yesterday returned today and rejoined the other jurors for further deliberations throughout the day.

They asked a question which was clarified for them by Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford.

They asked: “Are we allowed to consider age and maturity of the accused? We understand we don’t have to consider consequences of sentencing.”

The judge answered in these terms: “Your job is to assess the evidence, decide his intention based on all the evidence.

“He is entitled to be judged by the state of his or her own mind. Consider it from [17-year-old’s] own mind.

“Consider it from his perspective, from the point of view of his age and maturity. It is a subjective test.”

For the past week, the trial has been going ahead before a jury of 11 — as one woman was discharged because she was unable to continue.

By agreement of all parties, the trial continued in front of the jury of five men and six women.

The third person who was put on trial, charged with murdering 44-year-old postman Barry Daly in his front garden in Doneraile last October, remains before the court, and the jury is trying to decide if he is guilty of manslaughter or murder.

The 17-year-old stood in the Central Criminal Court in Cork on June 3, and he was arraigned on the charge of murdering Mr Daly at Rockview Terrace, Doneraile, on October 12, 2025.

He replied that he was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The issue the jury has to decide is between murder and manslaughter.

Co-accused Alex Deady, aged 20, of Glenview, Convent Rd, Doneraile, Cork, also pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. On Friday, July 3, the jury found him guilty of murder.

The 16-year-old co-accused who was put on trial on June 3 initially pleaded not guilty to murder. Following legal discussions in the absence of the jury, the 16-year-old was rearraigned on June 24. He entered a plea of guilty for the first time in the following terms: “Not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.”

This plea was acceptable to the DPP.