Vesel Jahiri planned to represent himself in murder appeal

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

Vesel Jahiri told the Court of Appeal on 27 May 2022 that he planned to represent himself at his forthcoming appeal because he could not find a lawyer willing to take his case. The proceedings were reported on 27 May 2022.

Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham adjourned the matter until 25 July 2022 to give Jahiri more time to find a lawyer. The judge said he would be unwise to represent himself and strongly advised him to obtain a solicitor.

Jahiri was sentenced to life imprisonment after a Central Criminal Court jury found him guilty of murdering Anna Finnegan, the mother of his two children, at Allendale Glen, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, on 21 September 2012. Following the trial in April 2017, the jury also found him guilty of assaulting her brother Karl Finnegan, who was stabbed in the chest and head during the same attack.

Jahiri had pleaded not guilty to both charges. He subsequently appealed his conviction.

The trial was disrupted after Jahiri, who had dismissed his legal team to represent himself, punched prosecuting barrister Patrick Marrinan SC in the face. Prison officers wrestled Jahiri to the ground and removed him from court.

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