A round-up of other court news in brief
Kearney murder appeal to be heard in 2009
An appeal by Brian Kearney against his conviction for the murder of his wife Siobhán will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) later this year.
Kearney was found guilty last March of murdering his wife at their home at Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, on February 28th, his 49th birthday. Kearney had denied the charge.
When the appeal was mentioned to the CCA yesterday, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman was told it is not yet ready to proceed. The case will be mentioned before the court at a case management list later in the current legal term with a view to fixing a date for hearing.
Kearney (51) was convicted of his 38-year-old wife’s murder by a majority jury verdict of 11 to one and Mr Justice Barry White imposed the mandatory life sentence.
During the trial, the prosecution argued a separation and Siobhán’s plans to move into the new home the couple had built did not fit Kearney’s plans and that he had strangled her with a vacuum cleaner flex.
The defence maintained Siobhán committed suicide and that the couple’s separation was amicable.
Auditors being sued over fraud
A firm of auditors is being sued over failure to uncover an alleged fraud by the former chief financial officer of a company manufacturing Zip firelighters and other ignition products.
Standard Brands (Trading) Ireland Ltd (SBI), with a manufacturing base at Castlebellingham, Dundalk, Co Louth and owned by UK company Graphite Capital Management LLP, claims its former chief financial officer Gordon Brown was understating tax rebates, apparently in order to boost his own bonuses.
SBI claims the alleged fraud created a false impression of the firm’s profitability and it sustained losses of at least €1.9 million. It claims its auditors should have detected the fraud but failed to do so.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday admitted the proceedings by SBI against its auditors Howarth Bastow Charleton to the Commercial Court.
Bail granted over severity of term
The Court of Criminal Appeal has granted bail to an actor pending his appeal against the severity of a three-year sentence imposed for assault on a man who subsequently died after developing a blood clot on his brain.
Darren Healy was yesterday granted bail by the Appeal Court on the basis of its view his appeal against the severity of the sentence has a strong possibility of success.
Healy (29), Killegar, Enniskerry, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last year to assaulting Philip Bryan causing him harm at Eamon Doran’s Pub in Temple Bar on June 10th, 2005.
Mr Bryan died later after a blood clot developed on his brain. The trial heard doctors had not been able to establish if the blood clot had been caused by Healy’s assault on Mr Bryan or by his subsequent fall when he hit his head on a step.
Judge Patricia Ryan imposed a four-year term, suspending the final year.
Mr Justice Hardiman said, while the court was not determining the outcome of the appeal, it was satisfied a discrete point had been raised and would grant bail.
Legal argument at man’s murder trial
There was a day of legal argument yesterday at the trial of a man accused of murder.
Brian Rattigan (28), Cooley Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Declan Gavin (21), Mourne Road, Drimnagh, at Crumlin Road, Crumlin, on August 25th, 2001.
It is the prosecution’s case that Mr Rattigan got out of a Nissan Micra outside the Abrakebabra takeaway at Crumlin shopping centre before he stabbed Mr Gavin in a “targeted attack.” The trial is expected to resume today.