Killer of man shot and buried alive is sentenced to eight years

A man has been jailed for eight years for killing a father of three who was buried alive in a shallow grave in Co Wicklow four years ago.

Clement Byrne (49), of Clonattin Village, Gorey, Co Wexford, was charged with the murder of Steven O’ Meara (26) at Ballydonnell Wood, Redcross, on August 6th, 2009.

He pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court last March and this plea was accepted by the State.

Mr O’Meara, who was from Rosehill in Wicklow town, was shot and buried alive in a shallow grave in the woods and his body was found nearly five months later on Christmas Eve.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down an eight-year sentence, backdating it to January 17th, 2012.

Last week Det Sgt Fergus O’Brien told the court that Byrne was the second person to be convicted over the killing but the man who shot Mr O’Meara was not before the courts.

Debt
Michael Dickenson is serving a life sentence for Mr O'Meara's murder. He drove the victim to the woods where two men were waiting, one of whom was Byrne.

Mr O’Meara was employed by a Dublin gang to collect a drugs debt of €5,000 and was told it was going to be paid over that evening, the court heard.

Det Sgt O’Brien told the court that Mr O’Meara was seen getting into Dickenson’s car that day.

Byrne told gardaí he punched Mr O’Meara and knocked him to the ground then said a man jumped out of the woods and shot him.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar gave the cause of death as internal hemorrhage due to gunshot wounds to the trunk and leg and said asphyxia was a potential cause of death.

Byrne told gardaí that another person paid a man €6,000 to give Mr O’Meara “a kicking”.

He also told gardaí he went to the woods to help out a friend and denied having any financial gain from the killing.

The court heard Byrne, a father of three, had 25 previous convictions.

Det Sgt O’Brien agreed with Brendan Grehan SC defending that Byrne told gardaí he just thought Mr O’Meara was going to “get a kicking” and had he known he was to be shot he would have tried to stop it.

Mr Grehan said his client was not associated with burying him alive and said another person was responsible for that.

Addiction
Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice yesterday , the deceased's parents said they were disappointed with the sentence.

“No sentence is long enough for a man being killed,” said his mother Veronica O’Meara.

His father John said his son was in rehab for alcohol addiction on several occasions and unluckily met the wrong people there.

The victim’s partner Catherine Greene said coming to court for the second time following Dickenson’s conviction was very hard. “I don’t think the sentence was right for what he did . . . Steven hasn’t gotten justice,” she said.

Anna Lawlor, a sister of Mr O’ Meara, read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of her parents.

“The past 3½ years have been extremely difficult. We are heartbroken. We have had to come to terms with the tragic and violent way he left the world.

“How does somebody drag someone who is still breathing and cover them with soil?”