Wayne Dundon fails bid to change judges in murder appeal

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

Wayne Dundon failed in an application to have a differently constituted Court of Appeal hear his appeal against his murder conviction. The proceedings were reported on 30 March 2017.

Dundon’s lawyers sought a different panel, with lawyers for Nathan Killeen supporting the application. Mr Justice George Birmingham dismissed it as without merit or validity, saying no reasonably informed or objective person could conclude that the judges could not bring an open and judicial mind to the matter.

Dundon and Killeen had pleaded not guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the murder of Roy Collins. Collins was shot at Coin Castle Amusements in Limerick on 9 April 2009.

Following a 29-day trial, both men were found guilty. The three-judge court found Dundon had ordered the murder from prison and Killeen was the getaway driver for gunman James Dillon. Presiding judge Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley delivered the verdict. Both men received mandatory life sentences on 15 July 2014.

In his affidavit for the recusal application, Dundon said there was an overlap of factual matters between the murder case and a threats case involving members of another Collins family. The Court of Appeal judges had previously dismissed appeals by Dundon and his brother John Dundon against convictions for making threats against members of that family.

Mr Justice Birmingham said an appeal court ruled on legal issues and did not form views on witness credibility, while the Special Criminal Court was a judge of both law and fact. He sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards. The court said it was ready to hear the murder appeal, which the report described as scheduled for Monday.