THE JURY AT the Stardust inquest will continue their deliberations into the causes of death of the 48 victims of the fire for a sixth day tomorrow.
The 12 jurors resumed considering their verdicts shortly after 11am this morning. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane told the panel that she would be available to them throughout the day should they have any questions.
The jury returned to the Pillar Room at the Rotunda Hospital at 4pm where they were discharged for the day having completed a fifth day of deliberations.
The inquest, which has been sitting for almost a year, has heard 95 days of evidence from 373 witnesses.
Dr Cullinane has previously told the jury that they must determine the identity, date and place of death and the circumstances surrounding the death of each of the 48 young people who lost their lives when a fire swept through the Artane venue in the early hours of Valentine’s Day, 1981.
The jury must also record a verdict in relation to the deaths.
They were told that the verdicts they can return are accidental death, death by misadventure, an open verdict, a narrative verdict and unlawful killing.
Dr Cullinane said the latter was markedly different from the other four and if the jury returned this verdict, they had formed the view that the law had been broken in a serious fashion.
The panel were told that the standard of proof for this verdict was beyond reasonable doubt, while the standard for the other verdicts is the balance of probabilities.
The Dublin District Coroner’s Court jury will continue their deliberations tomorrow.
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