Court of Criminal Appeal rejects John McDonagh's appeal against rape and murder conviction

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

The Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected all grounds of appeal put forward by John McDonagh, then 33, against his conviction for the rape and murder of 17-year-old Siobhan Hynes. Presiding judge Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan announced the decision. McDonagh, from The Demesne, Keeraunbeg, Carraroe, Co Galway, was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison for murder, with a ten-year sentence for the rape. He pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence.

Hynes was murdered in the early hours of December 6th, 1998, and her body was found dumped on Tismeain beach. The original trial was told she died from compression of the neck and drowning.

Before the appeal hearing, the court refused McDonagh permission to bring in additional expert evidence. His lawyers had claimed a new forensic report showed fibres from Hynes' clothing could have been in his car through "secondary transfer". The court said the defence team at the time had access to a report raising that possibility but chose not to call the expert witness or cross-examine on her findings. The court also rejected a ground that there was no written record of evidence given in Irish at the trial.

Hynes' parents said afterwards that they were relieved McDonagh would be going back to prison.