Sunset House attacker jailed for life for murder of pub manager

A man has been jailed for life by the non-jury Special Criminal Court after being found guilty of the murder of the manager of the Sunset House pub in Dublin.

Eamonn Cumberton (30), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, had denied murdering Michael Barr (35) in the pub on April 25th 2016.

Mr Barr was standing at the counter of the bar when two men wearing “Freddy Kruger” masks entered and one of them shot him seven times in what the court described as a “planned” execution.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, said that although the court could not determine the role Cumberton played in the shooting, he was one of three people seen dumping items connected with the killing into a getaway car.

The judge also said the people socialising in the Sunset House pub that night were “treated to a very traumatic spectacle indeed”.

The court heard that at 9.31pm two men got out of a grey Audi across the road from the Sunset House and went into the pub.

One of them approached Mr Barr and shot him while the other stood at the door and discharged one shot from a gun, which struck the bar.

The men left the pub and got back into the Audi, which was found partially burnt-out on Walsh Road, Drumcondra. People in the area saw three men attempting to set fire to the car.

‘Lurid’

Gardaí arrived and extinguished the fire and found three rubber masks, a baseball cap and four firearms inside. These items were “intimately connected with the killing”, Mr Justice Hunt said, describing the masks as “eye-catching, lurid and distinctive”.

The judge said the court was satisfied that DNA found on the baseball cap and one of the rubber masks was Cumberton’s and that the three people seen outside the Audi were “involved intimately” in the events at the Sunset House.

Mr Justice Hunt said there was no basis to conclude that Cumberton’s DNA was “present in car for some innocent reason”.

“Such a sequence of events would be highly improbable and a highly unfortunate coincidence for the accused,” the judge said.

Mr Barr was shot seven times, five of which were in the head. Ballistics evidence showed the shots were fired from a gun found in the Audi.

While the defence argued that the cap and mask might have been interfered with or contaminated, Mr Justice Hunt said the court did not find any such interference.

The court heard evidence of Cumberton’s movements the day after the killing, when he attempted to board a flight to Thailand. Mr Justice Hunt said that although it was not unusual for Irish people to travel to Thailand, the circumstances of Cumberton’s departure were “highly unusual”.

No luggage

He had booked a flight to Thailand at short notice, and gone to the airport with no luggage. However, he was prevented from boarding the flight because his passport was due to expire within three months.

The booking took place within a day either side of “this obviously planned killing”, Mr Justice Hunt said.

Cumberton, who has 37 previous convictions, then applied for an emergency passport and travelled to Thailand the next day. He returned to Dublin on May 25th and was arrested on May 27th.

During interviews, under a provision which allows a court to draw inferences from a suspected person’s failure or refusal to answer questions, Cumberton was asked to account for the presence of his DNA on the mask and baseball cap, but he remained silent.

Prosecution counsel Ronan Kennedy BL read victim impact statements to the court.

Jade O’Shea, the victim’s partner, said they had been “together over 4½ years” and were “engaged to be married”. She said their daughter is “constantly asking about her father” but that they “will never get him back”.

Noeleen Barr, the victim’s older sister, said she and her brother were “were more like twins growing up” and that his death had “left a huge hole”. He was “a fun-loving father who doted on his children,” the court heard.

Sentencing Cumberton to life in prison, Mr Justice Hunt expressed sympathy to those left behind. He said a child was present for what was a “truly shocking crime”.