The Court of Appeal has dismissed Keith Connorton’s appeal against his murder conviction, finding no error in the trial judge’s admission of two pre-trial statements by Claire McGrath and a recording of her 999 call.
Connorton was convicted by a 10–2 jury majority on 21 December 2018 of murdering Graham McKeever at an apartment at 53 Deerpark Avenue, Tallaght, on 18 February 2017. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 28 January 2019. His appeal challenged the admission of McGrath’s statements under section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 and the admission of her emergency call.
At trial, McGrath gave an account that differed in material respects from statements she had made to gardaí. The trial judge permitted the prosecution to treat her as a hostile witness and admitted her first statement in full and a relevant portion of the second statement. Connorton argued on appeal that the statements’ reliability had not been sufficiently established, including because the first statement was not recorded as it was taken and McGrath might have been affected by drugs when making the second.
The Court of Appeal rejected those arguments. It said the trial judge had conducted a detailed inquiry into the statutory requirements, considered the evidence about how both statements were made, and had a basis for his conclusions on voluntariness and reliability. The court held that the statements were correctly admitted under section 16.
The court also upheld admission of McGrath’s 999 call. It treated the call’s substantive contents as hearsay evidence and concluded they were admissible under the res gestae exception. The call was made close in time to the stabbing, while McKeever was in extremis, and McGrath was available for cross-examination. The court acknowledged that the trial judge’s reasons could have been clearer and that parts of his reasoning were not persuasive, but concluded the ruling was correct.
The appeal court rejected all three grounds of appeal and dismissed the appeal against conviction. The judgment did not alter Connorton’s conviction or life sentence.