Sabrina Cummins denied murder; jury deliberations due to begin

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

Sabrina Cummins and her brother Kenneth Cummins denied murdering Thomas Horan at a senior citizens' complex in January 2014. The proceedings were reported on 11 November 2015.

The report described two conflicting accounts emerging during the five-week trial. Thomas Horan, 63, was well known to Sabrina Cummins. In her evidence, Sabrina Cummins initially claimed she went to Thomas Horan’s home in Ringsend, Dublin, after a row with her boyfriend, but later admitted going there for money.

Sabrina Cummins claimed her co-accused brother Kenneth Cummins tried to suffocate Thomas Horan with a plastic bag before strangling Thomas Horan with a belt. Kenneth Cummins blamed Sabrina Cummins, telling gardai that Sabrina Cummins stabbed and poisoned Thomas Horan before banging Thomas Horan’s head off a shelf.

Jurors were told to treat each case separately and to try to establish whether lies had been told or whether there was corroboration. The report said they would soon begin their deliberations.