Global Microsoft outage forces adjournment of Tipperary assault trial

THE TRIAL of a Tipperary man accused of the attempted murder of another man has been adjourned for the weekend as the defence council could not access evidence.

This comes as tech giant Microsoft is experiencing global outages affecting popular applications including Teams and Outlook.

Chad Allan, 28, of Cahir, County Tipperary is also charged with assault causing serious harm to Patrick Williams on October 11, 2025. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a jury was selected for the trial earlier this week.

It is alleged that the accused participated alongside another man, Luke Caplice, in an incident where petrol was allegedly thrown over the victim before he was set alight on a property in Cahir, County Tipperary

Shortly after the jurors returned to courtroom 2 at Limerick Courthouse, this Friday morning, Ms Justice Melanie Greally informed the six men and six women that the court will “proceed on the basis that today would be a very short day,” due to the technical difficulties.

The court heard from Detective Garda Mark Waters of the Garda Technical Bureau who showed ordnance maps of Cahir, County Tipperary, indicating where the alleged assault took place.

The jury also heard evidence from Garda Larry Stapleton, a crime scene examiner who technically examined the scene following the incident.

Mr Stapleton told the court that 151 photos had been taken of the scene, with 20 being shown to the jury.

The evidence included photos of the interior of a burnt out vehicle on the property where the alleged incident occurred.

Garda Stapleton also pointed out two gas canisters that were found in the vehicle as well as “fire debris” which was also found on the property.

Following the evidence by Garda Stapleton, the defence council led by Senior Counsel Bernard Condon, noted that they would not be able to continue without consulting applications that are affected by the Microsoft outages.

Ms Justice Melanie Greally then apologised to the jury stating: “I’m very sorry we are not going to be able to progress matters” beyond that.

She then adjourned the trial until Monday, November 16, adding: “Hopefully the world would have returned to normal at that stage."