A jury in the case of a 38-year-old woman charged with the murder of a toddler in Cork three years ago has been sent home for the weekend to resume deliberations on Monday after they began considering the case against the accused on Friday.
The jury of seven men and four women trying the case of Karen Harrington from Lakelands Crescent, Mahon, Cork, who denies the murder of Santina Cawley at Elderwood Park, Boreenamanna Road, Cork, began their deliberations at 12.19pm on Friday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
However, the jury which was reduced to 11 people when one juror was excused on the third day of the trial, was recalled after an hour and 14 minutes by Mr Justice Michael MacGrath, who sent them home for the weekend to resume their deliberations in the case at 10.30am on Monday.
Earlier, beginning his charge to the jury, Mr Justice MacGrath said they must try the case solely on the evidence and exclude any prejudice or sympathy they may have towards either the accused and her family or the deceased and her family.
“You must cast any prejudice or sympathies from your mind. You must decide the case coldly and dispassionately and on a sober analysis of the evidence. You must cast a cold and sceptical eye over the evidence, that is how you must test the evidence,” he said.
Mr Justice MacGrath said the presumption of innocence was a bedrock principle of Irish jurisprudence and that must inform their deliberations with the onus of proof always resting with the prosecution.
The onus on the prosecution never shifts and there was no onus on Ms Harrington to give evidence – which she did do – or on her defence team to prove or disprove anything, and the jury must always be cognisant of that principle in their deliberations as to her innocence or guilt, he said.
He also stressed the importance of the jury being satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of Ms Harrington’s guilt if they chose to convict her and while there is no legal definition of what a reasonable doubt is, he could offer some guidance on what it is not.
A reasonable doubt is not an artificial or a contrived or a manufactured or a frivolous doubt, he said, but rather a real doubt - one that can be established by reason. And it is the standard in all Irish criminal trials, in contrast to civil matters which are decided on the balance of probabilities, he said.
Mr Justice MacGrath told the jurors that if they have any doubt in relation to any individual piece of evidence or on the totality of evidence presented in the case by the prosecution, they must, at all times, give the benefit of that doubt to the accused.
Closing his address to the jury as he formally put them in charge of the case, which has run for 13 days over the past three weeks at the Anglesea Street Courthouse in Cork, Mr Justice MacGrath said: “Your verdict must be unanimous, whether it is a verdict of guilty or not guilty.
“It is very important that you take your time. There is no rush. Take as much time as you require. It is extremely important you consider all of what you have heard in this courtroom. It is also important that everyone’s voice is heard in the jury room – make your voice known, make your concerns known.”
The case will resume on Monday.
