The charging of the jury in the trial of the woman accused of murdering Santina Cawley continues today.
38 year old Karen Harrington of Lakelands Crescent in Mahon in Cork is on trial, charged with the murder of Santina Cawley at 26 Elderwood Park on Boreenmanna Road on the 5th of July 2019.
Mr Justice Michael McGrath commenced his charge to the jury of seven men and four women on the 12th day of the trial yesterday.
He told them they need to approach the evidence in a "clinical and dispassionate" manner and said they cannot waver in to conjecture or speculation.
The judge emphasised the importance of everyone on the jury having a say and said that while they may have "strong views" about the case, their deliberations required an "unbiased sifting of the facts."
In his closing statement to the jury, Prosecution Senior Counsel Sean Gillane said Harrington had offered a 'doughnut shaped' account of what had happened, claiming there was a massive hole in the middle in relation to the hours in which Santina sustained the injuries that led to her death.
Meanwhile, Senior defence Counsel Brendan Grehan told the jury his client had "consistently and persistently" protested her innocence and that this should give the jury reason to pause whilst making their deliberations.
