Nikita Burns sentenced to life for murder of Robert Wilkin

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

Nikita Burns was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Robert Wilkin at the Central Criminal Court on 7 March 2025. Wilkin was assaulted near Roshine in Donegal before his body was thrown over the Sliabh Liag cliffs.

A jury found Burns and Alan Vial guilty by majority verdicts after a two-month trial. Both had denied murder. Burns’ sentence was backdated to 29 August 2023.

Burns and Vial later appealed their convictions. The Court of Appeal reserved judgment after a hearing on 23 July 2026; a September 2026 report said no decision had yet been made.