Two of Melissa Mahon’s young friends told the court today that she had taken a pregnancy test before her disappearance, a test that had proved positive.  The girls described how Melissa had bought the test in Tesco in Sligo town and gone into the bathroom of McDonalds across the road to take it.

Asked how she had reacted one of the girls said she seemed happy “kind of delighted”.  Earlier in the trial we heard from accused man Ronnie Dunbar’s ex girlfriend Angelique Sheridan or Dupois that Dunbar’s youngest daughter had claimed that the baby was her father’s since he and Melissa were having a sexual relationship.

One of the girls who gave evidence today told the court that Melissa had been going out with a boy from the Caltra area of Sligo.

Today marked the end of the video link evidence we’ve been hearing for the past week and a bit, the evidence from those witnesses too young to go through the rigours of a cross examination in open court.  The bulk of the evidence was from two of Dunbar’s daughters, 18-year-old Samantha and her 17-year-old daughter, who can’t be named for legal reasons.

The younger sister was cross examined further this morning, questioned about evidence she had introduced at the end of yesterday’s proceedings when she had told the court she had seen her father with his hands around Melissa Mahon’s throat, pressing down.

Challenged on the fact she had never mentioned this detail before yesterday she told defence counsel Brendan Grehan that she remembered new details every day and only remembered this particular detail when Isobel Kennedy, for the prosecution, asked her when she had seen her father strangling Melissa.  Both she and her sister had previously said that they saw their father lying on the bed with Melissa with his forearm around her throat.

This new piece of evidence adds a startling detail to her account.  Mr Grehan asked her flatly was she making things up as she went along, something the girl stoutly denied.

While his daughters were giving evidence the accused sat in the witness box of the tiny courtroom used to hear video link evidence.  In a packed courtroom it was the only place he had a clear view of the proceedings out of the way of the crush of bodies.  He spent most of his time writing a constant supply of notes, glancing mildly at the screen as his daughters gave their damning evidence.

This morning he had given his counsel a list of further questions to ask his youngest daughter, mainly surrounding a series of text messages she had sent him after she had been taken into care and he had been charged with Melissa’s murder.  Text after text was read out in court and the girl agreed that she had sent them.  She agreed she had sent her father texts saying she was sure of his innocence and that she would rather take the blame than him.  But the girl insisted that she had been scared and brainwashed as her father had threatened her with suicide.

Tomorrow the trial will continue back in the bigger courtroom we began in, now that advanced techincal capabilities are no longer required.  The old courts that open off the Round Hall are architecturally impressive but lack certain facilities.  It’s expected the trial will continue for another couple of weeks.  It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.