Courts / Cavan / Report

Bid to adjourn Lunney verdict until after Dwyer case opinion is rejected

Summary

The Special Criminal Court has rejected a defence application to adjourn the verdict in the trial of four men accused of false imprisonment and assault causing serious harm to Kevin Lunney. The defence sought a delay until a Court of Justice of the European Union opinion is issued in the case of Graham Dwyer, who is challenging the use of mobile phone data evidence in his 2015 murder conviction for the killing of Elaine O'Hara. Dwyer's legal team argues that Ireland's handling of such data violated EU fundamental rights. In the current trial, Luke O'Reilly, Darren Redmond, Alan O'Brien, and an unnamed fourth accused, referred to as 'YZ', all pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to the September 2019 incident in Co Cavan. The trial, which sat for 40 days, relied on phone evidence similar to that in the Dwyer case. Despite the defence argument that a potential conviction could be complicated by the pending European ruling, the court refused the adjournment. The three-judge panel, led by Mr Justice Hunt, fixed Monday, November 8, as the date to deliver verdicts in all four cases.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Bid to adjourn Lunney verdict until after Dwyer case opinion is rejected. Charges or matters: the assault and imprisonment charges at the trial, which eventually got underway in June and sat for 40 days; false imprisonment; assault causing serious harm. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

• September 2019 Adjournment
• November 11 Adjournment
• Monday, November 8 Adjournment
• September 17, 2019 Incident
• 2021-11-01 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Sentence Violent Crime

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• State urges court to uphold gang's conviction for kidnap and torture of Kevin Lunney
• Career criminal Harte must pay costs of Lunney abduction appeal
• Career Criminal who kidnapped and tortured Kevin Lunney fails in 'moot' appeal over non-jury trial

Read the original CNI report