Alan Vial and Nikita Burns appeal murder convictions

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Alan Vial and Nikita Burns have appealed their convictions for the murder of Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin. The Court of Appeal reserved judgment after hearing their appeals on 23 July 2026.

Both had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 66-year-old in Donegal on 25 June 2023. On 6 March 2025, a Central Criminal Court jury found each guilty by a majority of 10 to two. The proceedings were reported on 7 March 2025.

On 7 March 2025, Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced both to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. Vial’s sentence was backdated to 14 July 2023 and Burns’s to 29 August 2023.

The trial heard that Mr Wilkin suffered head injuries and was put over the cliffs at Sliabh Liag. Each defendant blamed the other for the assault. Vial testified that Burns struck Mr Wilkin with a rock and denied striking him; Burns claimed Vial had beaten Mr Wilkin and denied taking part in the assault or putting him over the cliff. The prosecution argued that both were involved in a joint enterprise to cause serious injury.

At the appeal, Shane Costelloe, for Vial, argued that Burns’s admissions had prejudiced the jury and that the pair should have been tried separately. He accepted that the trial judge had carefully warned jurors not to use one accused’s statements as evidence against the other. He said Vial accepted being present when Mr Wilkin was killed and helping to put him over the cliffs, but denied striking him.

Eoin Lawlor, for Burns, argued that her statements were involuntary and should not have been heard by the jury. Bernard Condon, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, argued that there was ample evidence against Vial independently of Burns’s statements and that statements to private citizens were admissible. Judge Patrick McCarthy, sitting with Judge Tara Burns and Judge Charles Meenan, reserved judgment.