A MAN who drove a gunman to the scene of a shooting in Dublin last year has been found guilty of murder and jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court.
Bryan Ryan (24) of Sheepmore Crescent, Blanchardstown, participated in a joint enterprise, driving the gunman to the scene on a stolen motorcycle, then driving him away afterward and burning the motorcycle.
The jury of eight women and four men spent two nights in a hotel and took 10 hours and 48 minutes to reach their majority (10-2) verdict, finding Ryan guilty of the murder of Ian Tobin at Fortlawn Park, Blanchardstown on May 27th, 2007.
Father of two Mr Tobin (25) died after he was shot through a door. It is believed his brother Blake was the intended target.
The jury heard that, two years before the shooting, a fight broke out between Ryan and Blake Tobin at a party in Blanchardstown, and that the gunman tried to stab Blake.
One witness, Kevin Whelan, told the court that he met Ryan after that altercation, and that Ryan told him the gunman was “going to kill Blake Tobin”. Mr Whelan said he was at the house in Fortlawn on May 27th last year, and left before the shooting.
He received a phone call from Ryan when leaving. Ryan asked whether Blake Tobin was in the house and said he was “getting him”. The court heard Ryan drove the gunman on a stolen motorcycle to the house at about 5.30am. Ryan then drove the gunman away from the scene and burned the motorcycle in the garden of an abandoned house.
The court heard Ryan telephoned Mr Whelan after the shooting to tell him that Blake Tobin had been shot.
Later, Ryan told gardaí during interviews that he was not aware his passenger was carrying a gun and thought he had only intended to frighten someone.
Mr Justice Barry White gave Ryan the mandatory sentence of life in jail.
Before sentencing, Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of Mr Tobin’s fiancée, Sara Murphy.
“Ian and I were together for nine years before he died. We have two young children together and were engaged to be married last August. Ian was a decent, hard-working man who lived for his kids. He was a family man and loved spending time with his family and close friends . . .
“Before he died Ian had been fundraising for Saint John’s leukaemia fund, a charity which was important to him because a work colleague had a child with leukaemia. After his death he received a certificate acknowledging in the amount he had raised.
“Since Ian died none of our lives have been the same. His parents have lost a son who dropped in to them everyday and his siblings have lost a brother who loved and cared about them. Our boys miss him so much and are always talking about him. It breaks my heart to look at them and to try and explain why this happened to their dad . . .
“When Ian died a part of me died with him. I keep asking myself why. He wasn’t involved in drugs, crime or anti-social behaviour, neither were any of his friends . . . Words cannot express how much losing Ian affected us. He meant the world to us.”
During the trial the court heard that there had been “an ongoing feud” between Blake Tobin and Ryan and the gunman.