An appeal by Brian Kearney against his conviction for the murder of his wife Siobhán at their family home will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal later this year.
Kearney was found guilty last March of murdering his wife at their home at Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, on February 28th, 2006 - his 49th birthday. Kearney had denied the charge.
When the appeal was mentioned to the court today, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman was told it is not yet net ready to proceed. The case will be mentioned before the court at a case management list later in the current legal term with a view to fixing a date for hearing.
Kearney (51), was convicted of his 38-year-old wife’s murder by a majority jury verdict of 11 to one at the Central Criminal Court and Mr Justice Barry White imposed the mandatory life sentence.
During the trial, the prosecution argued a separation and Siobhán’s plans to move into the new home the couple had built did not fit the father of two’s financial plans and that he had strangled her with a vacuum cleaner flex. The defence maintained Siobhán had taken her own life and that the couple’s separation was amicable.