The Crown’s case against a Derry man accused of a range of charges including rioting and murdering journalist Lyra McKee is “wholly circumstantial,” a court heard on Tuesday.
McKee (29) died after being struck by a bullet fired at police Land Rovers parked in the Fanad Drive area of Creggan during serious unrest on April 18th, 2019.
Nine men from the city are currently on trial at Belfast Crown Court on a range of charges arising from that riot as well as street disorder in Derry two days beforehand.
Three defendants have been charged with murderingMcKee, possessing a firearm and ammunition and other linked offences, including rioting and both possessing and throwing petrol bombs.
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They are not alleged to have fired the gun used to kill McKee but with intentionally encouraging or assisting the gunman on a joint enterprise basis.
The trio are Paul McIntyre (58) from Kells Walk, Jordan Devine (25) from Bishop Street and Peter Cavanagh (37) from Mary Street – all of whom deny the charges against them.
Their co-accused were charged with offences including rioting and throwing petrol bombs.
They are Christopher Gillen (45) from Balbane Pass, Joseph Campbell (25) from Gosheden Cottages, Patrick Gallagher (33) from John Field Place, Jude McCrory (28) from Gartan Square, Joseph Barr (37) from Sandringham Drive, Kieran McCool (57) from Ballymagowan Gardens.
A 10th defendant, William Elliot (58) from Ballymagowan Garden in Derry, died in England in last February.
All nine accused have denied the charges levelled against them.
The trial is now in its final stages and Jordan Devine’s barrister addressed Smyth on Tuesday, saying the case against her client was “wholly circumstantial”.
He has been charged with offences on both April 16th and 18th, 2019.
In her closing submissions, Eilis McDermott KC said the evidence presented against her client “can be distinguished from the evidence presented against the other alleged masked suspects”.
These reasons, she said, included “no evidence” of identification or recognition from any witness or controlled police viewing and no cell site analysis.
McDermott spoke of “no purported forensic link” between Devine and clothing or vehicles examined at the scene and no gait analysis that suggested he was one of the masked suspects.
She also said there were “no instances” on the footage of the riot where Person B, the masked suspect alleged to be Devine, “appears partially or fully unmasked”.
McDermott also addressed the murder charge against Person B.
Pointing out this masked man was “not part of the shooting party”, the defence barrister said this suspect “does not leave with the shooting party”.
Next to address Smyth was Joe Campbell’s barrister, Seamus McNeill KC.
Alleged to be Person F on the footage, McNeill described the Crown’s case against his client as “weak”.
The barrister spoke of imagery analysis which he said had “notable limitations”.
Also raised was what McNeill described as the Crown “latching on to” Campbell’s weight.
He said: “There is no evidence Mr Campbell is the only large person who lives in the Creggan area of Derry.”
The last barrister to provide oral defence submissions was Niall Hunt KC representing Jude McCrory.
Pointing out his client has been charged with riotous assembly and throwing petrol bombs on April 18th, 2019, Hunt said it was the Crown’s case that McCrory and a co-accused brought an MTV film crew to the scene where masked colleagues waited for them to begin petrol bombing.
It is also the Crown’s case McCrory appeared to be in a position of authority among the crowd and demonstrated support for the disorder.
Hunt spoke of the context of the film crew being in Derry that day and how they were brought to the scene of the riot that evening.
He said McCrory accompanied them throughout the day and that before the riot, when news reached him and the TV crew about the raid on a house in Creggan, McCrory “could not have known about it before it happened”.
Hunt said as the raid unfolded and security personnel arrived at the scene, trouble was anticipated in the area and a crowd had gathered “long before Reggie Yates and his film crew arrived” with McCrory.
He added there was “nothing to be read into the fact” that a masked man spoke to McCrory at the shops.
Hunt said his client lived and was known in the area, was a member of Saoradh and that people with masks “do appear” at scenes of street disorder – but there was no evidence the two men knew each other.
Defence closing speeches are due to continue on Wednesday.
