Trial postponed of man accused of murder in woods outside Edenderry

The trial of a man accused of murdering 24-year-old Philip Finnegan in a woods between Edenderry and Kinnegad three years ago will now not begin until April 2020.

The trial had originally been scheduled to begin in July of this year.

Stephen Penrose, 37, of Newtown Court, Malahide Road, Coolock, Dublin 17, is charged with murdering Philip Finnegan at Rahin Woods which is in Co Kildare, not far from Edenderry, on August 10, 2016.

This morning in the Central Criminal Court, before Mr Justice Michael White, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, said he couldn't previously estimate how long the trial would take but he now believes it's likely that it could last up to five weeks and he said a jury would have to be warned of this.

Mr Ó Lideadha said there are seven different categories of evidence and if the defence challenged nothing it would only take two weeks.

However, he said the defence will be challenging matters and the case could "substantially overrun into August".

Mr Ó Lideadha said he wanted to flag this as early as possible.

Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, agreed with Mr Ó Lideadha that the trial could take up to five weeks, and Mr Justice White subsequently fixed the trial to start on April 20, 2020.

Mr Justice White has also set aside two hours on April 9 for disclosure matters to be dealt with.