The Court of Appeal has dismissed Patrick O’Brien and Thomas Stewart’s appeals against their convictions for the murders of Desmond Kelly and Breda Waters in Limerick in January 2011. The court upheld the trial judge’s decisions to admit voice-recognition evidence, a witness’s earlier statements, CCTV evidence and firearms evidence.
The men were convicted by a jury in the Central Criminal Court in October 2012 after a 14-day trial. Each received two mandatory life sentences, to run concurrently from 10 January 2011. The appeals concerned the convictions, not a new trial of the murder allegations.
The court rejected O’Brien’s argument that Theresa Kelly’s evidence identifying his voice should have been excluded. Kelly said she recognised him speaking outside the room where she was with a baby. The Court of Appeal said the evidence could be tested through cross-examination and that the jury had received an appropriate warning about the risks of voice-recognition evidence. It also rejected the argument that a formal voice-identification procedure should have been held in the circumstances.
The court also upheld the admission under section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 of statements made to gardaí by Patrick Stewart junior. At trial, his oral evidence differed materially from those statements, which described the appellants’ journey before the killings and alleged that a gun was seen in the car. The appeal court found that the trial judge had properly considered whether the statements were reliable and necessary, and had regard to the witness’s explanations for the differences.
Both men challenged evidence from Garda Nick Jones about what he perceived on CCTV footage near the victims’ home. The appeal court found that the judge had allowed the witness to guide the jury through the footage without taking over the jury’s role. It also rejected challenges to firearms examiner Jeanette O’Neill’s evidence that firing a sawn-off shotgun could cause an injury to the web of the hand. The court said no photographs from the challenged search were used at trial and found the firearms evidence relevant and probative.
The court concluded that none of the grounds advanced justified overturning the convictions and dismissed both appeals. It did not order a retrial or otherwise alter the sentences.