Kenneth Collopy loses appeal over murder of carpenter

A man jailed for life for the murder of a young Limerick carpenter in 2009 has had his appeal against conviction dismissed on all grounds.

Kenneth Collopy (25), of Killonan, Ballysimon, in Limerick had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 25-year-old Daniel Fitzgerald who was shot in the head and leg as he left his uncle’s mobile home in Ballysimon on December 8th, 2009.

The Central Criminal Court trial heard Mr Fitzgerald had been mistakenly shot by Collopy who fired at a number of caravans in what he perceived as revenge for an arson attack on his mother’s van. The victim was described as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Collopy admitted killing Mr Fitzgerald but claimed he intended only to fire shots at the mobile home, that it was dark at the time and that he was unaware the victim or anyone else was in front of or near the home.

He was unanimously found guilty by a jury of Mr Fitzgerald’s murder and was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Barry White on March 29th, 2011.

Collopy’s barrister, Michael Bowman SC, contended in the Court of Appeal that the jury’s verdict was perverse on a number of grounds.

Dismissing the appeal on all grounds, Mr Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, said the jury’s verdict was not perverse.