Michaela murder accused remanded in custody
Saturday September 04 2010
A TEENAGER charged with the murder of 12-year-old schoolgirl Michaela Davis has been remanded in custody for a further three weeks.
Jonathan Byrne (18), above, of Lohunda Downs in Clonsilla, Dublin, was brought before Dublin District Court on Monday morning charged with killing the young girl in the early hours of last Saturday on the Porterstown Road.
Det Sgt Daniel Callaghan, from Blanchardstown garda station, said the accused made no reply when he was charged.
Mr Byrne was then remanded in custody until yesterday when he appeared at Cloverhill District Court before Judge John Lindsay.
Mr Byrne did not speak during the short hearing. His father did not attend the hearing.
School
Det Sgt Callaghan applied for a further remand until September 24 and this was consented to by Mr Byrne's barrister.
Michaela, below, who was buried on Thursday at Clonsilla Cemetery, had just started secondary school at Luttrellstown Community College.
The schoolgirl left her home in the Village development in Blanchardstown, Dublin, just after midnight last Friday week and had told family members she would return shortly. She was reported missing two hours later.
Her strangled body was found shortly before 4pm on Saturday in undergrowth on a bank of the Royal Canal. Her body had been spotted by a man out walking his dog.
Hundreds attended her funeral Mass at St Mochta's Church on Thursday, with schoolfriends forming a guard of honour.
- Edel Kennedy
Irish Independent
