A trial date has been set for a former Belfast, Maine man being held across the pond in the grisly murder of an Irish farmer.
Prosecutors in Ireland said they have 200 witnesses lined up for Michael G. Kelley’s trial, set for January 11 in Dublin.
Kelley has been in custody six months in connection with his latest arrest in the murder of Kenmare farmer Michael Gaine.
After his having gone missing, Gaine’s butchered body was found in a sewage tank on his farm.
Gaine, 46, last seen alive in a Kenmare store March 19, 2025, was reported missing by his family the next day.
Police found his body in pieces on his farm nearly two months later, when they declared it a crime scene.
They said Gaine had been hacked up and that they found what had been a missing chainsaw linked to the dismemberment.
Kelley, who had lived and worked on Gaine’s farm, was arrested within days of the farmer’s remains being found but later released.
He was rearrested earlier this year on a murder charge.
Kelley, 54, has denied any involvement in Gaine’s death.
Speaking with the Irish Mirror last year, Kelley described himself as an asylum seeker being framed for the crime.
He used to live in coastal Waldo County, Maine, just north of Camden, before leaving to seek asylum in Ireland.
Irish police last year came to Camden to talk with Kelley’s ex-wife, from whom he had previously unsuccessfully fought in Maine courts for sole custody of their two children.
Left Maine to seek asylum in Ireland / While I get that under our current leadership it also tells me he has a screw loose