Barrister charged with murder appeals High Court decision to refuse bail

A barrister who was remanded in custody after being charged with murdering a man in a shooting incident on farmland near Tallaght, Dublin last month is appealing a decision by the High Court not to grant him bail.

Diarmuid Rossa Phelan (53), of Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, is accused of the murder of Keith Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane on February 22nd last.

Mr Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was severely injured in the shooting incident and died at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.

During a High Court bail application, lawyers for Mr Phelan – a senior counsel and associate law professor at Trinity College Dublin – claimed their client would be “completely and utterly ruined” and his “life’s work wiped out” if the application was turned down.

However, Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy refused the application, saying that Mr Phelan posed a serious flight risk if released on bail. She said he had a “powerful incentive to evade justice” based on the seriousness of the charge, the strength of the evidence, the likely sentence and the ongoing threats to the accused.

The Court of Appeal was told on Friday that Mr Phelan has informed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of his intention to appeal Ms Justice Murphy’s decision.

Jane McGowan BL, for the DPP, said the prosecutor had received notice of Mr Phelan’s appeal on Thursday. Michael O’Higgins SC, for Mr Phelan, told Court of Appeal president Mr Justice George Birmingham that he expected any such hearing to last “about an hour”.

Setting a date of April 5th for the appeal hearing, Mr Justice Birmingham told the defence and prosecution teams that they “must work to that deadline”.

“The onus is on both sides to work to that date,” he added.

Previously, Mr O’Higgins submitted to the High Court that Mr Phelan was a person who had a greater understanding of having to meet a court order “than 99.9 per cent of the population”.

But Ms Justice Murphy said the court disagreed with this assessment, saying that people who find themselves in desperate situations can be tempted to evade the consequences. The accused, she said, was not entitled to any “greater consideration” than any other person who came to the High Court seeking bail.

Ms Justice Murphy said the full extent of Mr Phelan’s assets was not known and that three different addresses in south Dublin had been submitted by the accused. After Ms Justice Murphy refused his bail application, Mr O’Higgins asked the court if its concerns would be allayed should his client transfer his assets into a “third party name”. The judge said the court’s concerns would be “abated” if the accused did not have “the means” to flee the jurisdiction.