Jury continues deliberations in David Mahon murder trial

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The jury in the murder trial of David Mahon at the Central Criminal Court continued deliberations on 5 May 2016. He was charged with murdering his stepson, Dean Fitzpatrick, in Dublin on 26 May 2013. He has pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 5 May 2016.

Dean Fitzpatrick, 23, received a stab wound to the abdomen outside the apartment his mother, Audrey Fitzpatrick, shared with Mahon at Burnell Square, Northern Cross in Dublin.

The State argued that Mahon was drunk, angry and agitated when he stabbed his stepson with deadly intent. Mahon said the death was an accident or possible suicide.

Mahon said they had argued because Fitzpatrick took a water bottle off his bicycle to annoy him. He said Fitzpatrick pulled a knife on him, which he wrestled away and put in his pocket. He said he then took it out to show Fitzpatrick, who walked onto it. The trial heard Fitzpatrick ran downstairs, collapsed outside and bled to death internally.

The jury deliberated for more than two hours on 4 May 2016 and returned on 5 May. Jurors requested the kitchen knife block from which Mahon said Fitzpatrick had taken the knife, and another knife found on Mahon’s balcony. They were given the knife block.

Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan refused their request for the pathologist’s report, offering instead to read his evidence or her summary of it.

She explained the three possible verdicts: guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty. For murder, jurors had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that David Mahon unlawfully killed Dean Fitzpatrick, intended to kill or seriously injure him, and that the death was not accidental. Jurors had spent four hours deliberating before lunch and continued that afternoon.