Court rejects O'Reilly appeal against conviction

The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) has rejected an appeal by Joe O'Reilly against his conviction for the murder of his wife Rachel at their home in Naul, Co Dublin.

The appeal was heard on December 18th by a three-judge CCA with the Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray, presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy. The court reserved judgment until today.

O'Reilly, who denied murdering his wife, had attended his appeal.

The trial heard that Rachel O'Reilly's body was found in the bedroom of the couple's home by her mother, Rose Callaly, on the morning of October 4th, 2004. She was killed as a result of receiving several blows to the head from a blunt instrument.

O'Reilly, from Lambay View, Baldarragh, The Naul, was convicted unanimously by a jury in July 2007 of the murder of his 30-year-old wife at their home on October 4th, 2004. He was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Barry White.

O'Reilly appealed on five grounds, including that evidence of mobile phone records and data relating to the location of his mobile phone on the date of his wife's murder should not have been permitted by the trial judge to go before the jury.

It was also argued there was no evidence before the court that O2 Ireland was a licensed phone operator under the terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Service Act 1983 and therefore the phone evidence was not legally before the jury.

It was further submitted that e-mails from a computer alleged by the prosecution to be O'Reilly's should have been excluded on grounds their evidential value was outweighed by their prejudicial value. The e-mails were sent in June 2004, several months before Rachel¿s death, and it was argued that time was too far removed from the events of October 2004.

In a 34-page ruling, Chief Justice Murray said the five grounds of appeal were not well founded. Accordingly, the court rejected the appeal on all five grounds.

O'Reilly, who was dressed in a grey suit with blue shirt and dark blue tie, remained impassive during the hearing. Following the ruling, he was led out of court in handcuffs to return to the Midlands prison where he is serving his sentence.

Rachel O'Reilly's family, the Callelys, welcomed the verdict as did her birth mother, Teresa Lowe.

"It has been a long four and a half years to get to this day," her mother Rose Callely told reporters outside the court this morning. "We are relieved it is all over. Joe O'Reilly is not the only one serving a life sentence. He gave our whole family a life sentence the day he murdered Rachel. We are indebted to all the gardaí who brought him to justice." She also thanked Victim Support for their help.

Asked if she ever had any doubt that O'Reilly would lose his appeal, she said: "I never had any doubt and thank God today now everything has come to a head and please God we will be able to move forward hopefully."

She said her daughter had never left her side since the day she was murdered. "Unfortunately I thought that after the trial we would move on. I realise now that it's never going to happen. That part of our lives is just with us forever and it's something we are going to have to learn to live with."

Rache's father Jim said it was a great relief that it was finally over. "It's a long old road," he said.

Hearing the verdict was like "winning the Lotto", her birth mother Teresa Lowe said. "It was brilliant. We're over the moon with the verdict and we deserved to get it". She said her daughter could now "sleep in peace".

She said she never had any doubts about the outcome and she thanked the gardaí and the court support services for their help.

The failure of Joe O'Reilly's appeal was also welcomed by retired assistant commissioner Martin Donnellan, who had been involved in the investigation. "He thought he was a very clever man but maybe he was too clever for his own good," he said.

Mr Donnellan said he was delighted for the Callaly family. "I think they've gone through an awful lot. And I'd like to compliment the trial judge [Mr Justice Barry White] for the way he ran the trial. I thought he did an excellent job on it and I'd like to compliment the entire Garda team, from the most junior guard to the most senior for their professionalism in this investigation," he said.

Mr Donnellan said the management and engineers from the 02 phone company had played an "absolutely crucial part in this investigation".