Gangland criminal was ‘lured to his death’ by trusted friend

Gangland criminal Wayne Whelan, who was shot at least three times in the head before his body was found in a burning car in west Dublin, was “lured to his death” by his trusted friend, the Central Criminal Court was told on Thursday.

Whelan’s sister, Hazel Grainger, told the court in a victim impact statement that “the sickening part” was that her brother trusted Anthony Casserly, who had come to their family home that night when everyone was “frantically trying to locate Wayne”.

Holding up a photo of her brother and Casserly to the court, she said: “This photo shows how Wayne trusted this man.”

The court heard that Casserly had lured Whelan to his death under the pretence of inviting him to watch a soccer match between Ireland and Denmark.

Evidence was also given that the victim’s remains were found in the passenger seat of the burning car and he was so badly burned that he had to be identified by DNA analysis.

Last October, Christopher Moran (52), who had been on trial at the time for murder at the Central Criminal Court, pleaded guilty to being the getaway driver for the fatal shooting. His co-accused Anthony Casserly (25) then pleaded guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Wayne Whelan. Both pleas were accepted by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Whelan (42) was shot dead at Mount Andrew Rise in Lucan, Co Dublin on the evening of November 18th 2019 and the car in which he was sitting was set on fire with his remains inside.

Whelan was well known to gardaí for his involvement in serious and organised crime for more than two decades and had been shot a number of times in a previous murder attempt two months before his death.

Four men have been jailed for their roles in that attempted murder.

At the sentence hearing on Thursday, a victim impact statement was read to the court by Whelan’s sister, Ms Grainger, who said that she never thought she would be in court talking about her brother in the “past tense” and described it as “utterly devastating”.

The witness said her brother was a family man, son, father, brother, husband, grandfather, grandson, nephew and most of all a friend. She said he was “the apple of my nan’s eye”, the first born baby boy to her parents and also the first grandchild.

“He was absolutely doted on by the whole family and idolised all of us. He made everyone feel so special, valued and could talk about most things,” she said.

Ms Grainger said her brother, who was extremely generous and a loyal person, was robbed from their family in “such a horrendous way”.

Detective Superintendent Mark O’Neill detailed the background to the incident, telling prosecution counsel Shane Costelloe SC that Casserly and Whelan were known to each other and were friends or “apparently friends right up to the point that” Whelan was murdered.

Det Supt O’Neill told the court that Moran, who also lived in the Clondalkin area or occasionally in Kilmainham, was the uncle of Casserly. “They had a familiar relationship,” he said.

Casserly has 22 previous convictions which include 18 road traffic matters and four offences for possession of drugs. Moran has ten previous convictions with eight relating to drug offences and two road traffic offences.

Mr Justice Keane remanded Moran in custody to April 25th when a probation report will be produced and he will be given an opportunity to adduce further medical evidence. Casserly will be sentenced on January 31st.