A number of elements of the Graham Dwyer case could not be reported on before now for legal reasons.
They include:
* Dwyer has been in prison awaiting trial since his arrest 18 months ago because the gardai believed he posed a flight risk and they believed he would flee given the amount and weight of evidence against him.
* He had tried to convince Elaine O’Hara to pose with him as a married couple interested in buying a house in order that he could rape and stab a female estate agent to death.
* Gardai said he was “completely confident” of beating the charge, declining to take a break from questioning for sleep through the night when initially being held before charge.
* He had told prison staff he would be free and enjoying a meal in a restaurant by this weekend when a delay arose in supplying him with a meal in the past week.
* He has no previous convictions but despite being a successful architect was identified as having serious anger management issues that resulted in his thrashing a colleague’s work station after a minor row. He lost that job shortly after.
* The jury is to be offered counselling because of the graphic nature of the videos they have seen, including his holding a knife up to some women he met online when having sex with them.
* Some of the women he recorded did not know they were being filmed because they were blindfolded during sexual encounters.
* His legal team attempted to have the trial stopped several times, arguing the media coverage at the time of his arrest was prejudicial and that he had been questioned when not properly legally represented.
* Specifically, his legal team took issue with the speed, level of detail and accuracy of the reports carried in The Irish Times and on RTÉ at the time of his arrest.
* His lawyers also tried to have the case halted because Dwyer’s rubbish bins were searched by the Gardai. They extracted his DNA from turtle wax in the bin that he had used to polish his car. This DNA sample confirmed the semen on Elaine’s mattress was his.
* His wife has not visited him since he was jailed on remand awaiting trial and he has not seen his two young children since then.
