Trial of barrister over murder adjourned to next week

The trial of a law lecturer and farmer accused of murdering a man, who was trespassing on his land, has been adjourned to next week as a witness was not available to the court.

Diarmuid Phelan, 56, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 35-year-old Keith Conlon at Hazelgrove Farm in Tallaght in Dublin on 24 February 2022.

Mr Phelan claims he was acted in self defence when he fired his gun and that Mr Conlon was hit accidentally.

The prosecution claims Mr Phelan intended to kill or cause serious injury.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford told the jurors this morning that there was a difficulty and the trial could not proceed with evidence.

She said the next prosecution witness was not available to the court and adjourned the matter until 2pm on Monday.

The judge apologised to the jury for the delay.

She said if they could have done something about it sooner, they would have, but it was outside the court's control and could not be helped.

She encouraged them to "relax" and put the trial out of their minds and warned them not to research the case on social media or anywhere else.