Two Co Wicklow men have been found guilty of shooting dead a French street entertainer in Bray two years ago.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory term of life imprisonment on Declan Sheridan (24) and James O’Connor (28) after a jury at the Central Criminal Court found them guilty by unanimous decision of the murder of Charles Sinapayen.
The jury of six men and six women were thanked for their “careful attention” to the case by Justice Paul Carney, who exempted them from further jury service for the rest of their lives.
Father-of-one Sheridan, of Sugarloaf View, Sea Road, Kilcoole and father-of-three O’Connor, with an address at Kilbridge Grove in Bray, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Sinapayen at Richmond Hill, Bray in the early hours of May 29th, 2009.
The 33-year-old musician and juggler, who was originally from Bordeaux but had lived in Bray for several years and was known to many as a busker in the town, was shot through the bedroom window of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend Mary Kinlan.
He sustained a gunshot wound to the side of his face which lacerated his brain and fractured his skull, and died two days later in Beaumont Hospital.
Counsel for the State, Una Ní Raifeartaigh SC, told the jury during the trial that the motive for the “brutal” and “callous” murder was unclear.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Ní Raifeartaigh, Mr Sinapayen’s mother Marie Claire outlined how her life had become a “living nightmare” since the murder of her son. She described him as a “maverick, non-conformist and happy-go-lucky” person who was nice to everybody he met and liked to make people laugh.
The State argued that O’Connor and Sheridan, who have both suffered with heroin addiction in the past, went to Mr Sinapayen’s apartment in the early hours of May 29th, 2009, where they fired two blasts from a shotgun through the window.
It was the prosecution case that the accused men were then driven to a local cemetery where they disposed of the shotgun, cartridges, clothes and shoes.
The jury heard evidence from key prosecution witness Keith Lowe, who said he drove O’Connor and a second man to Richmond Hill on the evening in question.
Evidence was also before the court that DNA matching that of Sheridan, who has 34 previous convictions, was present on a shotgun cartridge and a tracksuit top recovered by gardai in a cemetery close to the scene of the shooting.
Forensic scientist Dr Linda Williams told the court that DNA found on a pair of runners and a jacket found at the cemetery also had traces of DNA matching that of O’Connor, who has 41 previous convictions, including two for assault on a garda.