by Andrew Carey
THE jury in the trial of a County Limerick man accused of the possession of a pipe bomb has been discharged and the case listed for retrial next month over delays with court transcripts being furnished to the defence.
Gerard O’Callaghan (27) of Top Cross, Ardagh pleaded not guilty to a charge of knowingly being in possession off an explosive device in such circumstances that it was not for a legal purposes at 15, Upper Cecil Street on January 15, 2013.
The trial opened last Tuesday week and after three days of legal argument, the hearing of evidence began last Friday.
A request on the same day by defence counsel, Brendan Nix SC, for a copy of the transcripts of the legal argument to be furnished to the accused was to be fulfilled by Tuesday of this week.
However, as the trial was to resume, the court heard that the furnishing of the two days of transcripts that the defence said they required had not been met.
The court heard that the delay meant the trial would now be forced into a third week of evidence and these delays were hampering the advancement of the case.
During the opening day of evidence, the court heard that Gardaí entered the ground-floor apartment on foot of a search warrant and found the accused, his partner and their two year old toddler in bed, feet from a locker where a pipe-bomb had been hidden.
The accused’s mother, Caroline O’Callaghan – the tenant of the flat – and his brother, Wayne O’Callaghan were sleeping on couches in the living room.
Detective Garda Paul Whelan told the trial that he used an “enforcer” – a battering ram – to breach the door of an apartment where they had been informed there was a pipe bomb and the discovery was made.
The apartment was sealed off and the specialist Army bomb disposal unit from Cork made the device safe.
Gerard O’Callaghan came to the Garda station by appointment a little more than a year later. When cautioned and charged he replied “not guilty due to a lot of people having access to the flat and room”.
Upon hearing of the proposed delays, Judge Tom O’Donnell told the jury that the case was to be halted given the delays and the scheduling issues that now arose.
He discharged the jury and excused them from service for five years and re-listed the trial for June 2 to start again and remanded the accused on continuing bail.
