The Court of Appeal has upheld Joseph Behan’s convictions arising from an armed incident at Mizzoni’s Pizzeria in Edenmore, Dublin, in which two staff members were shot shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day 2019.
Behan had been convicted in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 28 February 2020 of offences including reckless discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit an indictable offence, robbery and assault causing serious harm. He received 15 years’ imprisonment for the serious assault, with lesser concurrent sentences on the remaining counts.
The prosecution case arose from an incident at the Edenmore Shopping Centre takeaway. A masked man arrived by bicycle, produced a gun and demanded money. Staff member Ionut Datcu threw bottles at him. As the intruder retreated, he fired several shots into the premises, hitting Datcu and Vasile Bitica. Datcu suffered a gunshot wound through the chest and required immediate surgery at Beaumont Hospital before making a full recovery.
CCTV showed a person leaving Behan’s nearby home at 48 Edenmore Park, later cycling towards the pizzeria and returning after the shooting. Gardaí searched the house under an urgent warrant issued by Detective Superintendent Paul Scott. A glove found upstairs carried firearms residue and a major DNA profile matching Behan.
Behan’s principal appeal argument was that Scott was not sufficiently independent of the investigation to issue the warrant because of his senior divisional role and later involvement in investigative decisions.
The Court of Appeal rejected that claim. It found Scott knew nothing of the incident before being contacted and independently viewed the CCTV before deciding to issue the warrant. His later assistance did not invalidate that earlier independence.
The court also rejected a challenge to the admissibility of shopping-centre CCTV footage. It found no substantial defect in its provenance and dismissed the conviction appeal in full.