A Dublin man who said he shot his life-long friend because that friend had asked him to has lost his appeal against his murder conviction. The man had said that the friend wanted to be shot in order to avoid going on trial for a previous killing.
In July 2001, a jury in the Central Criminal Court found Paul McCarthy (30) guilty of the murder of Martin Comerford.
McCarthy, from Chamber Court, Chamber Street, south Dublin, had admitted shooting his friend, Martin Comerford (36), a father-of-three, from Tom Kelly Flats, Charlemont Street, Dublin, at around 2.20 a.m. on April 26th, 1999, but denied he intended to kill or cause serious injury.
The body of Mr Comerford was found where McCarthy shot him, at the bottom of a laneway off Ontario Terrace, Lower Mount Pleasant Avenue, Ranelagh. Mr Comerford was due to go on trial later that same day for the murder of Anthony "Chester" Beatty, a Dublin man, who was shot dead in 1997.
The deputy state pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, found that Mr Comerford died from a single shotgun blast to the chest which was fired from very close range. The six-day trial had heard that McCarthy admitted his involvement in the shooting soon after his arrest on May 11th, 1999.
After hearing submissions yesterday on behalf of both McCarthy and the DPP in relation to the trial judge's charge, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the appeal.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice Geoghegan, sitting with Mr Justice O'Neill and Mr Justice Murphy, said that, on balance, the court was of the view that the conviction in the case was perfectly safe and that the charge by the trial judge, in all the circumstances, was safe.
The Central Criminal Court had heard that McCarthy had smoked heroin and drank beer and spirits on the night of the killing. He told gardaí that Mr Comerford had talked him into the shooting because he was afraid he would be convicted of "Chester" Beatty's murder.