The mother of Mr Trevor O'Keeffe, the Co Kildare man murdered in France 16 years ago, yesterday had her case against a French judge for alleged incompetence adjourned until the New Year, writes Lara Marlowe, in Paris
Mrs Eroline O'Keeffe criticised the adjournment afterwards claiming it was a "delaying tactic".
Mrs O'Keeffe is suing Judge Pierre-Charles Marien for incompetence and is seeking damages of €150,000 due to the delay in the trial of her son's alleged killer coming to court.
The accused, Pierre Chanal, committed suicide on October 14th, the second day of his trial for the murders of O'Keeffe and two young Frenchmen.
All of the evidence that eventually led to Chanal being charged was in the hands of the investigating magistrate, Judge Pierre-Charles Marien by early 1989.
But it was five years before Chanal was placed under investigation for Mr O'Keeffe's murder.
Mrs O'Keeffe is claiming that the case should never have gone on so long.
Yesterday Judge Jean-Claude Magendie, the President of the Paris Tribunal, postponed her case against the French justice system until January 14th.
Mrs O'Keeffe and her sister, Mrs Noeleen Slattery, travelled at their own expense to Paris for yesterday's hearing.
"We will keep coming back for as long as it takes," Mrs O'Keeffe said afterwards. "We want justice and closure."
Chanal had been convicted of the kidnapping and rape of a Hungarian hitch-hiker in 1988, and was believed responsible for the disappearance of eight young men in the "Mourmelon Triangle" in Champagne in the 1980s.
Judge Marien's successor, Judge Pascal Chapart, denounced previous errors in his summation. "The file slept for years," Judge Chapart wrote. "When we read it, we were surprised, and that was an under-statement."
Judge Chapart called Marien's handling of evidence "an Ali Baba's den" in which legal documents and sealed evidence - including soil from the spade Pierre Chanal is believed to have used to bury Mr Trevor O'Keeffe - went missing.
The Paris Tribunal had said it would consider only Judge Chapart's summation. But yesterday, Judge Magendie said he and two colleagues would need the entire 100-volume file concerning the "Disappeared of Mourmelon", which are stored in Reims.
"It is always difficult when the responsibility of the State is in question," Judge Magendie said.