After two trials lasting a combined 17 weeks over a two-year period, Gerard Cervi has been found guilty of murdering a father of three in a shooting at Bray Boxing Club.
However, Cervi (36), who has been in custody for more than five years since his arrest, was acquitted by the Central Criminal Court jury of attempting to murder well-known coach Pete Taylor and a third man, Ian Britton, during the attack at the early-morning gym class.
The defendant has no previous convictions and the prosecution did not elucidate a motive for the crime.
The jury of six men and six women took seven hours and 59 minutes over three days to accept unanimously the prosecution’s case on the first count that Gerard Cervi was the gunman who fired nine shots into a crowded gym, killing Robert “Bobby” Messett.
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[ Coach Pete Taylor shot ‘in mid-air’ by gunman at Bray Boxing Club, court hearsOpens in new window ]
Mr Messett, a 50-year-old father of three, died from a single gunshot wound to the head. The trial heard that a group of people had assembled at the boxing club in the early hours for a training session when a gunman appeared at the door and opened fire. Mr Taylor and Mr Britton were injured while Mr Messett died immediately at the scene.
Prosecuting counsel had told the jury that CCTV evidence was sufficient to convict Cervi, but when added to the presence of his DNA and fingerprints in a Volkswagen Caddy van that the prosecution alleged was used by the gunman, it led to the “inevitable” conclusion that he was guilty.
The 12 jurors rejected the defence case that there wasn’t an “iota” of evidence to identify Cervi as the gunman. Cervi, from the East Wall in Dublin 3, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Messett at Bray Boxing Club, Bray Harbour, Co Wicklow, on June 5th, 2018.
He also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murders of Mr Taylor and Ian Britton on the same date and at the same location.
A sentence hearing for the defendant will take place on December 1st, when Ms Justice O’Connor will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to Cervi. She remanded him in custody until that date.
On that date, the Messett family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Robert’s death has had on their lives.
Before the courtroom emptied for the evening, Ms Justice O’Connor said she wanted to take the opportunity to offer her condolences to Mr Messett’s family.
She said: “You have displayed enormous dignity at all times during the course of the trial. In my opinion, by your dignity you honour your beloved Mr ‘Bobby’ Messett. I cannot imagine your grief or imagine your pain but you certainly represented him with extraordinary dignity”.
Continuing to address the Messett family, the judge said that to lose a loved one is always painful but she could not imagine the grief and pain of losing such a person in these circumstances.
At Cervi’s second trial, Pete Taylor said he made a run toward the gunman but failed to see a bench that caught his leg.
“When I was diving over it, the bench caught my leg and then I got shot and that spun me around,” said Mr Taylor. Prosecuting counsel Mr Paul Murray said the effect on Mr Taylor’s body angle “when he tripped or fell” appeared to have saved him from more serious injury “if not death”.
In relation to the attempted murder charge, Mr Murray had told the jury the State must prove that the accused intended to kill. Shortly before lunchtime on Friday, in response to a question handed up by the forewoman of the jury, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor told them that in order for the offence of attempted murder to be made out on count two and three, there must have been an intention to kill Mr Taylor and Mr Britton.
“You must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the requisite intent was on the part of Mr Cervi. He must have taken some step or action which was sufficiently proximate or close to what would have occurred,” she said. “Intention can be formed instantaneously, it can be formed in a second.”