DPP will not pursue re-trial against partner of killer Derek Boyd
By Alison O'Riordan
The Director of Public Prosecutions will not pursue a re-trial and has now dropped all charges against the partner of double killer Derek Boyd, who was accused of impeding his prosecution by making a false statement to gardaí.
Boyd (31), who was serving the suspended part of his sentence for killing his sister when he fatally stabbed father-of-four Mark Carroll (34), was earlier this week jailed for life.
His 34-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Harcourt was also on trial, accused of impeding her partner's prosecution by making a false statement to gardaí.
It was the State's case that Harcourt knew some or all of what had occurred in Boyd's home that night and avoided telling the truth to officers in the hours after the murder.
Ms Harcourt, of Primrose Grove, Darndale in Dublin 17 had pleaded not guilty that on June 9th, 2024 at Blanchardstown Garda Station, in circumstances where another person had committed an arrestable offence, namely murder, and knowing or believing that person to be guilty of that offence or of some other arrestable offence, did without reasonable excuse an act with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of the said person.
On July 22nd, after a three-week trial at the Central Criminal Court, the 11 jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the single count against Harcourt on which at least 10 of them agreed.
Following this, trial judge Melanie Greally remanded Harcourt on continuing bail until the next list to fix dates at the Central Criminal Court.
When Harcourt's case was called for mention on Thursday, Antonia Boyle, prosecuting, told Judge Paul McDermott that the DPP was not seeking a retrial.
She said that a nolle prosequi was to be entered on the single charge against Harcourt, meaning that the State will not be proceeding with the impending charge against her.
Harcourt was then discharged from the indictment.
Lawyers for Harcourt had told the trial jury in their closing remarks that there wasn't a "shred of evidence" she was aware of the nature, extent or gravity of the injury to Carroll when she provided a statement to gardaí.
John Byrne, for Harcourt, said in his closing address that there was no evidence Harcourt had witnessed any physical altercation between Boyd and Carroll.
Defence counsel also stated that CCTV supported his client's assertion that she was upstairs at Boyd's home for the seven-minute period when the fatal stabbing took place, as a light had come on in the upstairs bedroom minutes before Carroll was seen running from the house.
At the outset of her trial, Harcourt also stood accused on a second count of impeding Boyd's prosecution by making an effort to clean up the house with a mop before gardai arrived. She had denied the charge.
Harcourt told gardaí in her interviews that she had not seen any blood in the property and that nothing happened in the house that she knew of.
Forensic scientist Alan McGee gave evidence to the trial that he had noted at least four blood-stained ring patterns on the kitchen floor in Boyd's house and it was likely the ring stains had been altered by wiping.
Under cross-examination, McGee agreed with Byrne that wiping can be accidental without deliberate planning and that he did not equate the term "wiping" with cleaning.
Byrne also made the case that no effort had been made by gardaí to preserve the floor in its original state when detectives initially arrived at the scene.
A few days later, the court heard that the State would not be proceeding with the allegation against Harcourt of the act of impeding in relation to the alleged cleaning of the house.
Derek Boyd, with an address at Scribblestown Place, Finglas in Dublin 11 had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Carroll at the defendant's home on June 9, 2024.
Last Tuesday, Boyd was given the mandatory term of life imprisonment and told that his sentence for the manslaughter of his sister Sandra four years ago would now be referred back to the Circuit Court.
