The jurors in Patrick Quirke’s murder trial have been sent home for the weekend without reaching a verdict.
The 50-year-old farmer from Breanshamore, Co. Tipperary denies murdering Bobby Ryan sometime between June 3rd 2011 and April 30th 2013.
This trial was initially set down for up to eight weeks but by the time the jurors were sent out to begin their deliberations on Tuesday afternoon, the trial had passed the 3-month mark.
They’ve now spent 11 hours considering whether Patrick Quirke murdered his alleged love rival – local DJ Bobby Ryan.
It is the prosecution’s case that he did so in an attempt to get back with Mr. Ryan’s girlfriend Mary Lowry – a woman he had an affair with previously.
Mr. Quirke was the one who found his remains in an underground tank on her land almost two years after he went missing.
All of the evidence is circumstantial and the defence claims it’s based on theory only.
The jury will have to decide whether that theory has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
They’re due to resume deliberations on Monday.
