The conviction of a Dublin man for the murder of an elderly Co Tipperary cattle dealer who died after he was shot in the knee during a raid on his home was overturned yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
A retrial was ordered in the case of Mr Ivor Sweetman, and he was granted bail.
Mr Sweetman (49), from Bawnlea Green, Jobstown, Tallaght, was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury in May 1997 of the murder of Mr Danny Fanning (71) at his home at Stephenstown, Rosegreen, Cashel, Co Tipperary, on February 6th, 1996.
Yesterday three judges - the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, Mr Justice O'Higgins and Mr Justice McKechnie - overturned the verdict.
During the 1997 trial, the jury was told three men had raided the Fanning home looking for money. It was stated that, when told there was no cash in the house, the raiders had tied up Mr Fanning's wife, Brigid, and daughter, Roseleen, in a bedroom and that Mr Fanning was shot while he sat in an armchair with his hands tied behind the back of the chair and his legs to the chair legs.
Moving the appeal yesterday, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, for Mr Sweetman, said the court should strike down the conviction on the basis that the trial judge failed to properly and emphatically warn the jury that a statement of admission by a co-accused should not be taken into account by them in reaching a decision about his client.
This admission by one of the accused that it was only intended to give Mr Fanning "a blast of the shotgun" and not to kill him was not evidence against his client. There was no intention on Mr Sweetman's part that a shotgun would be used during the course of the raid, and this fact would put him outside the intent to either cause harm or kill.
In the court's decision, the Chief Justice said it was being asked to decide whether the trial judge had warned the jury in express terms about unsworn or other statements by a co-accused. Because of the lack of such warning, it was submitted, the jury might have taken into account evidence that they were not entitled to.
The co-accused's statement was the critical and main evidence against Mr Sweetman, and the appeal court was satisfied that the ground of appeal had been properly made out, he said.