Andrew Carey at the Special Criminal Court, Dublin
THE trial of two Limerick men, Wayne Dundon and Nathan Killeen accused of the murder of businessman Roy Collins in 2009, has been adjourned at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin to allow the State disclose further recordings from the Prison Service amongst other materials that make up the prosecution case.
Amid heightened security at the specially designed court buildings, the two accused arrived to the Courts of Criminal Justice at the Phoenix Park under a garda and army escort where they were brought to the custody area ahead of this Tuesday morning’s sitting.
In a packed court room, rank and file gardai including, detectives, inspectors and superintendents were present along with members of the Collins family including Steve Collins, his wife Carmel, daughter Leeann and Ryan Lee.
Dressed in a black shirt and grey pants, 36-year-old Dundon was brought to the dock area of Court number 11 along with his co accused 24-year-old Nathan Killeen, dressed in a grey waist coat and pants, white shirt and silver tie, where they had a brief consultation with their defence teams before proceedings began.
Addressing the three judge court, senior counsels Michael O’Higgins and Sean Guerin told the court that there was now a “manageable list of disclosure material” to be furnished to the defence teams and that a “significant proportion of garda resources – almost on a full-time basis – have been assigned to deal with disclosure.”
Mr O’Higgins said there was “no complacency” on the part of the State but he did accept that there were a number of matters still outstanding.
Lawyers for Nathan Killeen said that it was “not satisfactory that matters were coming so late”, adding that they felt there was no “reality in the short term to the case going on”.
Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley, together with Judge Margaret Heneghan and Judge Ann Ryan said that the court appreciated the amount of work being done in relation to the trial advancing.
The opening of the trial was adjourned and an earlier court order was extended for the Prison Service to disclose recordings made, between a range of agreed dates, from garda stations to potential witnesses who were in custody at the time.
Mr O’Higgins said that he would hope that the trial could open on Thursday next and hear from some preparatory witnesses but added that no “controversial evidence” would be heard before the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Ms Justice O’Malley said that the court, which normally sits Tuesday to Friday, would also sit on Mondays once the trial opened to allow the case progress within the proposed timeframe.
Dundon and Killeen were returned to custody pending the opening of the trail next Thursday.
