Patrick Quirke on trial for murder as hair clip evidence disputed

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

Patrick Quirke was on trial in Tipperary accused of murdering Bobby Ryan, a part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight. The alleged murder was said to have occurred at an unknown location on a date between 3 June 2011 and 30 April 2013. Mr Quirke has pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 27 February 2019.

Garda Larry Stapleton told defence counsel Lorcan Staines that he placed items recovered from the run-off tank where Mr Ryan’s body was found in evidence bags and handed them to the exhibits officer over two days in May 2013. His notes listed a hair clip among the contents of one bag. He said he was certain he would have mentioned it to the officer, having read from his notes at the time.

Mr Staines questioned how Garda Stapleton could be certain when he had not made a statement until five and a half years later. He said the exhibits chart did not list the clip and a photograph of the bag’s contents was not made available to the prosecution or defence until November 2018.

Garda Kieran Keane said he did not remember being told the bag contained a hair clip when he received it. He agreed that he amended the chart after the clip was returned from the forensic laboratory in January 2019, and that such charts are routinely updated. Mr Staines said there was no suggestion that Garda Keane had done anything wrong in keeping the chart.

Judge Eileen Creedon told the jury that the trial could run longer than the original eight-week estimate and that jurors would be required until 22 March or beyond.