A MAN has been found guilty of murder at an apartment block in Clontarf, Dublin, when both a handgun and shotgun were used to inflict what were described as “catastrophic injuries”.
The Central Criminal Court heard there had been a feud between the men.
Paul Kelly (26), of O’Brien Hall, died almost instantly when he was shot several times on the night of April 6th, 2007.
Michael Taylor (31), of Summerhill, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Paul Kelly at Winston Ville apartments on Charlemont Road, Clontarf, where the victim had been staying.
A postmortem showed that he was shot nine times with a handgun and twice with a shotgun.
A glove found along the killers’ getaway route had DNA matching the defendant’s as well as a small amount of DNA from an unknown person.
A mobile phone number, which the State attributed to the defendant, was shown to have used a phone mast on Clontarf Garda station at about the time of the killing.
Mr Justice Barry White told the jury that the various strands of evidence in the case were circumstantial, and while separately they might not be enough to convict the defendant, together they could be sufficient.
The nine men and three women of the jury deliberated for five hours and 21 minutes before reaching a majority verdict of 10 to two. The trial lasted 10 days.
A number of female members of the Kelly family left the courtroom in tears after the verdict was read out, while Taylor simply shook his head.
Mr Justice White adjourned the formal imposition of the mandatory life sentence until the end of the month to give the victim’s family time to prepare a victim impact statement.
He explained that this may be used in the future by a parole board, which could recommend the extent of the life sentence.