Cooney’s barristers argue murder trial was unfair

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

Barristers for Wayne Cooney have argued that he did not receive a fair murder trial because the trial judge effectively closed down the defence case in his charge to the jury. The proceedings were reported on 17 July 2025.

Cooney pleaded not guilty to murdering Jordan Davis. Davis, 22, was shot dead while pushing his four-month-old son in a buggy in a Darndale laneway on 22 May 2019.

A jury convicted Cooney of murder on 5 July 2022. He was also found guilty of possessing a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and ammunition at the same place and on the same date, in circumstances giving rise to the reasonable inference that he did not have them for lawful purposes.

On 8 July 2022, Mr Justice Tony Hunt sentenced Cooney to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder. He also imposed 13 years for each of the firearm and ammunition offences, to run concurrently with the life sentence.

At the trial, the prosecution relied on a garda’s identification of Cooney in CCTV footage. Defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lidheadha said it would have been impossible to identify his client from the footage as claimed and argued that the prosecution case did not amount to proof beyond reasonable doubt.

The latest supported sentences remain life imprisonment and the concurrent 13-year terms.