BREAKING: Jury fail to reach verdict in Kivlehan trial



UPDATED 18:00:

A jury has failed to reach agreement in the trial of a man accused of murdering Sligo musician Martin ‘Matt’ Kivlehan.

Keith Brady from Cartron Estate in Sligo went on trial for his murder after his manslaughter plea wasn’t accepted by the DPP.

Matt Kivlehan died after being stabbed twice in the neck at his apartment on Holborn Street in Sligo town in August 2015.

The court heard Keith Brady and his sister Janice were drinking there and Mr. Brady told Gardaí he also took some Xanax and heroin.

He claimed Mr. Kivlehan touched his sister at some point and he just lost it.

He said he stabbed him in the chest and denied covering for Janice.

He told them he couldn’t remember what happened to the knife or the clothes he was wearing.

The jurors began their deliberations on Friday and were told this afternoon they could return a majority verdict if they couldn’t reach a unanimous one.

But after five hours in the jury room, they emerged to say they weren’t in a position to reach a verdict on which ten of them were in agreement.

The case will go back into the list to fix trial dates and is due to be mentioned again next Monday.

ENDS

Breaking 16:00 Monday:

The jury in the trial of a man accused of the murder of a Sligo musician has been discharged after they failed to agree on a verdict.

Keith Brady of Cartron Estate in Sligo is on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of 59 year-old Martin ‘Matt’ Kivlehan.

Mr. Kivlehan died after being stabbed twice in the neck at his apartment in Sligo Town in August 2015.

Keith Brady went on trial for murder after his plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter wasn’t accepted by the DPP.

The eleven jurors returned after just under five hours deliberating to tell the judge they weren’t able to agree on a verdict of at least ten of them.

The case has been put back until next Monday to fix a new trial date.



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