A YOUNG Dublin man jailed for life for the murder of another man whom he ran down in his car has lost his appeal against conviction.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday rejected arguments by Anthony O’Reilly, the first person in Ireland to be convicted of murder using a motor vehicle as a weapon, of an inconsistency in the case against him which made his conviction unsafe.
O’Reilly (23), Cleggan Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin, was found guilty last year of murdering Daniel McDonald (21) on February 2nd, 2007.
Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins jailed him for life for murder and imposed concurrent sentences of eight years and six years on other charges. O’Reilly appealed against the murder conviction only and the DPP opposed the appeal.
O’Reilly claimed the trial judge erred by not withdrawing the murder charge from the jury in circumstances where the prosecution’s case contained an inherent contradiction.
It was contended a Garda road accident expert had accepted propositions from technical witnesses for the defence that centrifugal force, coupled with some form of driver error, could have resulted in O’Reilly driving towards Mr McDonald inadvertently.
That evidence contradicted the prosecution’s claim O’Reilly had deliberately knocked down his victim, it was argued.
Rejecting the appeal, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the admission of an alternative possibility on a matter by an expert witness did not require a direction to be given by the trial judge..
O’Reilly’s original trial heard that after a fight that began in a disco in Arklow O’Reilly had driven his car at Mr McDonald at a speed of at least 50mph, causing him fatal injuries.