Three men jailed over Kevin Lunney kidnap and torture lose appeal against convictions

High Court Reporter

Three men jailed for the kidnapping and torture of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney have failed to have their convictions overturned at the Court of Appeal.

Alan Harte (44), of Island Quay Apartments, Alan O’Brien (44), of Shelmalier Road, and Darren Redmond (31), from Caledon Road, all in East Wall, Dublin 3, were found guilty by the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court of false imprisonment and intentionally causing harm to Mr Lunney at a yard at Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan, on September 17th, 2019.

Mr Lunney was abducted near his home and brought to a container where he was stripped to his boxer shorts, doused in bleach, beaten, cut and had the words QIH carved into his chest with a Stanley knife.

He was threatened and told to resign as a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings.

Career criminal Harte inflicted most of Mr Lunney’s serious injuries, including knife wounds to his face and torso.

Harte was sentenced to 30 years in prison, while O'Brien received a 25-year sentence and Redmond was sentenced to 18 years with the final three suspended.

Delivering judgment at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Tara Burns, said the court rejected all of the grounds raised by the three men and therefore dismissed each of their appeals against conviction.

Lawyers for the men had argued that key DNA evidence taken from a Kangoo van that was used as a “team bus” by Mr Lunney's kidnappers should have been ruled inadmissible.

It emerged during the trial that the van was destroyed by fire while in garda custody and was therefore not available for inspection by defence experts.

While the Kangoo van did not play a direct role in the kidnapping itself, it was used as a support vehicle to convey those involved from Dublin to Cavan and back.

DNA matching Mr Lunney’s was swabbed from areas of suspected blood staining inside the Kangoo van and DNA matching one of the accused men, Darren Redmond, was found on a bar behind the front seats.

The prosecution did not allege that Mr Lunney was in the van but rather that someone who had been in contact with Mr Lunney transferred his blood to the van.

Barristers for the men also submitted that the Renault Kangoo van was not properly preserved by gardai prior to the fire.

In dismissing the appeals, Mr Justice McCarthy said the three-judge panel was satisfied that the trial court had not made an error in ruling the DNA evidence admissible.

He said the court was not persuaded by arguments concerning the integrity of the van’s preservation, the lost opportunity to examine the DNA, or claims that an insufficient number of swabs had been taken, and therefore found that the Special Criminal Court (SCC) had not erred in admitting the evidence.

The men’s legal teams also claimed that the judges in the SCC made an error in refusing to adjourn the trial so that the law could be clarified on the admissibility of phone records.

Mr Justice McCarthy rejected this argument, saying the trial court’s refusal to adjourn the case to await a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) fell “entirely within the court’s discretion”. A further claim that the phone records used in their trial were an invasion of privacy was also rejected.

Mr Justice McCarthy said that although the retention of data by the mobile phone providers at issue was unlawful, the trial court did not err in its determination that the evidence could nevertheless be admitted.

The court also found that the use of a search warrant to access the relevant phone data was lawful.

Mr Justice McCarthy said it was within the discretion of the district judge to determine whether to issue a warrant and the court found this discretion “was not improperly exercised”. He said the trial court did not err in its interpretation of what was covered by the law.

Lawyers for the men had also contended that gardaí acquired CCTV footage used in their trial knowing that the evidence obtained was in breach of the law.

Mr Justice McCarthy noted this legal issue has already been determined in many cases and said CCTV from public places does not amount to a breach of privacy.

Counsel for the men also argued that evidence on CCTV footage should not have been allowed, as witnesses who had given the evidence in a voir dire (a trial within a trial) should have been recalled to give their testimony in the trial and take a fresh oath.

Dismissing this ground, Mr Justice McCarthy said the court was not persuaded that the Special Criminal Court erred in permitting the adoption of the evidence without witnesses being recalled and re-sworn, having already been sworn in the trial within a trial.

The Court of Appeal rejected further grounds of appeal put forward by lawyers for Mr Redmond that the trial court had not considered alternative possibilities as to how his DNA ended up on a bar in the rear of the Kangoo van and claims that his arrest was unlawful.

Mr Justice McCarthy said in reaching its verdict, the SCC had engaged in a detailed analysis of the evidence and had made findings of fact which were open to it to make before concluding it was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of the appellants.

After the judgment was delivered, lawyers for the men confirmed that all three plan to go ahead with appeals against their respective sentences and asked the court to list the matter for case management. Mr Justice McCarthy put the matter back to be listed before the Court of Appeal on February 13th.

In his testimony during the Special Criminal Court trial, Mr Lunney said he was bundled into the boot of an Audi near his home and driven to a container where he was threatened and told to resign as a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings and to put a stop to litigation with which he was involved north and south of the border.

His attackers stripped him to his boxer shorts, doused him in bleach, broke his leg with two blows of a wooden bat, beat him on the ground, cut his face and scored the letters QIH into his chest with a Stanley knife.

They left him bloodied, beaten, and shivering on a country road at Drumcoghill in Co Cavan where he was discovered by a man driving a tractor.