Reporting by Frank Greaney
Update:
The jury in the trial of a young man accused of murdering a drunk fisherman who entered his home as a trespasser have been sent home without reaching a verdict.
Dean Kerrie, with an address in Portarlington, Co Laois, claims he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Jack Power in Dunmore East, Co Waterford.
It happened in the early hours of July 26th 2018 when Mr Kerrie was 17-years-old.
Last week, he told the jury that Mr Power accidentally fell on a knife he had picked up to try and get him to stop assaulting his mother.
The jurors will resume their deliberations tomorrow morning, having already spent just over one-and-a-half hours considering the evidence.
Earlier:
The jury in the trial of a young man accused of murdering a drunk fisherman in Co. Waterford has begun its deliberations.
One of the issues for them to decide is whether Dean Kerrie, with an address in Portarlington, Co Laois, was acting in self-defence.
Jack Power, a 25-year-old fisherman, died from a single stab wound to the chest in the early hours of July 26th 2018.
It happened inside Dean Kerrie’s home in Dunmore East, Co Waterford.
Dean was 17 years old at the time. In his evidence, he told the jury he accidentally stabbed him while trying to get him to leave the house. He claimed he fell on the knife after losing his footing while trying to kick a kitchen knife out of his hands.
The prosecution claims he deliberately stabbed him after a scuffle inside the house.
The jurors will have to decide whether he was acting in self-defence.
With that in mind, they were told they have three possible verdicts open to them: not guilty, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or guilty of murder.
