THE JURY IN the trial of law professor Diarmuid Phelan, who denies murdering a trespasser on his farm in Tallaght, will resume deliberations today.

The jury panel of nine men and three women have so far spent four hours and two minutes considering their verdict, but suspended deliberations on Tuesday. The trial did not sit on New Year’s Day or yesterday due to juror commitments.

The 12 jurors will return to the Central Criminal Court for 1pm today.

Phelan (56), has pleaded not guilty to murdering father-of-four Keith ‘Bono’ Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on 24 February 2022.

The accused man is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove, formerly a golf course in Tallaght.

The jury had heard that on the day in question three men – the deceased Keith Conlon, along with Kallum Coleman and Robin Duggan – had trespassed on a wooded area of Phelan’s land while hunting foxes or badgers.

Phelan told gardaí in his interviews that he became concerned about a dog running loose on his land towards his sheep. When he got a view of the dog, he shot it with his Winchester rifle, whereupon he said three men immediately “exploded” from the woods and began threatening him.

Phelan said he was shaking with fear and had “scrambled” up a bank to get away but when the two men kept coming he believed they were “coming to fulfil the threats they had made”.

As they got closer, Phelan shouted at two of the unarmed trespassers on his farm to “get back” before he fired three shots from his Smith & Wesson revolver and said he was “stunned when one man went down”.

It is the State’s case that two of the three shots were fired into the air, while the third connected with Keith Conlon.

It is also the prosecution’s case that when the third shot was fired by Phelan, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave. It is in those circumstances, the prosecution say, that the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury to Keith Conlon.

It is the defence’s position that Phelan accidentally hit Keith Conlon while firing three “warning shots”.

The judge previously went through a “path to verdict” document with the panel with the three verdicts open to them. The document contained questions that the jurors may ask themselves in arriving at their verdict.

Ms Justice Lankford reminded the jury that it is “a suggested way of arriving” at their verdict and that they should do “whatever you think is best with the guidance you have been given”.

The judge reminded the panel that there were three verdicts they could return in relation to the murder charge against Phelan, namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty.

Contains reporting by Alison O’Riordan.