Trial of two men accused of threatening to kill collapses

By Aoife Nic Ardghail  

The trial of two men accused of threatening to kill and extorting money from a Monaghan based fitter has collapsed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Deividas Sutkevicius (28), of Foxlodge, Rathoath, Co. Meath and Arturas Jankus (41), of Cortolvin View, Monaghan, had both pleaded not guilty to demanding €3,500 and €2,500 with menaces in Monaghan on March 4 and April 4, 2011.

The men, who are from Lithuania, have also pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Marius Zukauskis in Monaghan on the same dates. It was day 3 of the trial.

Judge Patrick McCartan told the jury members today (Friday) that the trial was over because of prejudicial evidence a witness had given the previous day (Thursday).

He said the witness’s evidence had caught both prosecution and defence by surprise and “ought not to have arisen”.

The judge told the jury that justice must be seen to be done. He said the case will go back into the system and a new trial will be set for a later date.

He thanked the three women and nine men of the jury for fulfilling their civic duty and told them that statistically it is unlikely they will be called again to serve.

Judge McCartan remanded both accused on continuing bail and put the matter back to fix a new trial date.