A 31-year-old Dublin man has been found guilty of murdering another man four years ago following a feud between both men and their families.
Paul Kelly (26) of O’Brien Hall died after he was shot several times on the night of April 6th, 2007.
Michael Taylor (31) of Summerhill had pleaded not guilty to his murder at Winston Ville apartments on Charlemont Road, Clontarf, where Mr Kelly had been staying.
Several local residents gave evidence during the 10-day trial. They said they heard gunfire and saw two armed men in balaclavas and gloves fleeing the scene about1.45pm.
The victim was then discovered, with multiple gunshot wounds, in the lobby of the apartment building.
A postmortem examination revealed he died of catastrophic injuries to a number of his internal organs after being shot nine times with a hand gun and twice with a shot gun.
The Central Criminal Court heard that there had been a feud between both men and their families, which the prosecution said amounted to motive.
A glove found along the killers’ getaway route had DNA matching the defendant’s as well as a small amount of DNA from an unknown person. The defence pointed out that it was not possible to say when the glove had been dropped and when the defendant’s DNA had been deposited on it.
Taylor’s lawyer also said that if a member of his family had killed Mr Kelly, this person could well have worn a glove that had previously been used by the accused.
A mobile phone number, which the State attributed to the defendant, was shown to have used a phone mast on Clontarf Garda station around the time of the killing.
In order to convince the jury that the phone number in question belonged to the accused, the State showed that it matched variations of the defendant’s name in the phone contacts of his family and friends.
Prosecutors also pointed out that he had previously used two other phone numbers in that handset, a connection the defence described as a leap in the dark.
A technical expert testified that the mast on Clontarf Garda station, which that phone number used around the time of the killing, provided excellent coverage to Winston Ville apartments.
He added that in the hours before and after the murder, the phone number in question had been using a mast near the apartment that the defendant shared with his girlfriend.
Mr Justice Barry White told the jury that the various strands of evidence in the case were circumstantial, and while separately they might not be enough to convict him, together they could be sufficient.
The nine men and three women of the jury deliberated for five hours and 21 minutes before reaching a majority verdict of 10 to two.
A number of female members of the Kelly family left the courtroom in tears after the verdict was read out while Taylor simply shook his head.
Mr Justice White adjourned imposing the mandatory life sentence until the end of the month to give the victim’s family time to prepare a victim impact statement. He explained that this may be used in the future by a parole board, which could recommend the extent of the life sentence.