Declan Tynan's violent disorder conviction upheld on appeal

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed Declan Tynan's appeal against his violent disorder conviction on 7 July 2017. Mr. Justice Birmingham delivered the judgment, which dealt only with the conviction aspect of his appeal.

He was convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 16 December 2016 of violent disorder contrary to section 15 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, as amended. He was subsequently sentenced to four years' imprisonment with the final year suspended. He appealed against both conviction and sentence.

The trial concerned events at Ladbrokes Bookmakers in Killinarden, Tallaght, on 13 December 2012. Employees described men entering at about 5.30pm, one armed with a knife, and attacking a customer and his brother. A person with obvious stab wounds was taken to Tallaght Hospital. Neither brother cooperated with the investigation, and no medical reports or victim impact report were obtained.

The appeal challenged recognition evidence, a Garda's remark before the jury about witnesses not called by the prosecution, the handling of a jury question and access to Garda PULSE records.

Tynan argued that the process used to obtain recognition evidence required scrutiny to assess whether its probative value was outweighed by prejudice. During the examination of admissibility, emphasis was placed on the absence of notes of the Garda telephone contact and the subsequent viewing meeting. The court rejected all four grounds and affirmed the conviction.