Judgment reserved in Keith O’Neill’s murder conviction appeal

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

Judgment was reserved in Keith O’Neill’s appeal against his murder conviction after a Court of Appeal hearing on 25 February 2022. The proceedings were reported on 25 February 2022.

O’Neill had pleaded not guilty to shooting dead John Wilson, 35. Wilson was killed at his home on Cloverhill Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, on 28 September 2012. A jury found O’Neill guilty and Mr Justice Tony Hunt sentenced him to life imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court in May 2015.

His lawyers argued that the trial judge should not have allowed a forensic expert’s evidence about gunshot residue on clothes O’Neill had dumped in a skip to go before the jury. Ronan Munro SC, for O’Neill, also argued that gardaí had failed to seek and preserve the evidence and that potential contamination could have occurred.

Munro said an armed garda retrieved an unsealed bag containing the clothes and placed it in the footwell of a patrol car used by firearms officers. He also said Wilson’s young daughter, an eyewitness, had described the gunman as “fat”, while O’Neill had been very lean at the time.

Munro cited the Jill Dando case, in which Barry George was convicted of her murder in 2001, successfully appealed and was acquitted in 2008. Presiding judge Mr Justice John Edwards said English guidelines published after that case recommended caution with small amounts of gunshot residue. Conor Devally SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the guidelines were proposals and had not become established protocols. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy also heard the appeal.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.