The Dublin man accused of murdering Melanie NcCarthy-McNamara (16) has admitted writing letters that allegedly refer to the killing.

The trial at the Central Criminal Court has heard Daniel McDonnell wrote to his brother and a female friend while on 23 hour lock up at St. Patrick's Institution in March 2012.

He wrote in one of the letters ‘that other thing wouldn’t have happened if I’d known she was in the car, it was meant for that other smell bag’.

Mr. McDonnell (19), from Brookview Lawns, Tallaght, denies murdering Melanie McCarthy-McNamara. She was shot while sitting in a car with her boyfriend and another man, almost two years ago.