JUDGMENT RESERVED IN CO DONEGAL MURDER TRIAL

November 3, 2011

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin has reserved judgment on legal issues in the trial of a man accused of murdering in Co Donegal.

Martin Kelly, is on trial for the murder of Andrew Burns whose body was found by a group of teenagers in the car park of a church at Donnyloop in 2008.

It is the prosecution case that Kelly was part of a joint enterprise to lure Mr Burns from Strabane to Donnyloop where he was shot twice.

Martin Kelly, 36, a bus driver, of Barrack St, Strabane has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Andrew Burns, 27, an unemployed man, also from Strabane at Donnyloop, Castlefin on February 12, 2008.

The court has heard that Mr Burns was shot twice in the back with the fatal gunshot penetrating his aorta, causing massive blood loss and death.

The three judge non jury court has heard 12 days of evidence in a “trial within a trial” on the admissibility of alleged statements made by Kelly while in garda custody in Letterkenny and during an interview in the North with two senior garda officers.

The defence is challenging the arrest and detention of the accused at Letterkenny Garda Station. The defence is also challenging the admissibility of alleged statements made by Kelly on the grounds that they were not made voluntarily because of “inducements and threats” by members of the gardaí.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, made an order that there should be no reporting of the evidence in the “trial within a trial” until the court has decided on the legal issues.

The court has reserved judgment on the legal issues until a later date.

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