A judge at the Central Criminal Court yesterday discharged the jury on the second day of the trial of three Limerick men accused of murder.
The judge told the jury that a matter had arisen that made it "inappropriate" for the jury to continue with the case.
Mr Patrick Brennan (53), of St Ita's Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Sean Colbert (53), a father of eight, of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, Limerick, who was shot dead outside his home on August 9th, 1996.
Mr William O'Neill (27), of no fixed abode, but previously of Garryowen, Co Limerick, and Mr Patrick Brennan's son, Mr Andrew Brennan (28), of St Munchin's Street, St Mary's Park, also pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Colbert.
The prosecution alleged that Mr Patrick Brennan had instructed his son and Mr O'Neill, the then boyfriend of his daughter, to murder Mr Colbert, who had allegedly been having an affair with his estranged wife.
The court previously heard that, on the evening of his death, Mr Colbert was walking up the steps to his home when three shots were fired. Bullets found at the scene and injuries to Mr Colbert's body indicated that a .22 revolver was fired at him, with one of the bullets penetrating a lung, which was the main cause of death.
The court previously heard that before the shots were heard, two men were seen in the vicinity, dressed in black and wearing balaclava-type hats.
State Pathologist Dr John Harbison had told the court that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the lower back that travelled up the body through the lung.
Prof Harbison extracted two .22 calibre bullets from Mr Colbert's body, one of which had ended in the neck and the other in the buttock area. The second bullet would not have been life-threatening, he said.
Mr Colbert had been bending forward when the shooting occurred, thus enabling the bullet to pass from the base of his back on his right side to his neck, Prof Harbison told the court.