A Dublin man who is already serving a 12-year sentence for the attempted murder of his friend has now been convicted of his murder in a landmark case.
Jonathan Dunne (26), of Windmill Park, Crumlin in Dublin had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ian Kenny at Lakelands Road, Stillorgan on July 31st, 2009 and now faces life in prison.
Mr Kenny, a father-of-two, remained in a persistent vegetative state and died in Beaumont Hospital two years after the incident which happened outside a row of shops in broad daylight on July 4th, 2007.
Dunne, a plumber, was already serving a 12-year sentence for Mr Kenny’s attempted murder when he died in hospital. But Dunne was then retried for his murder – the first case of its kind since the law changed in 1999.
The jury of seven men and five women found him guilty by unanimous verdict in just under two hours of deliberation following the week-long trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked the jury for their careful attention before excusing them for life from further service.
“This particular case was particularly distressing… a case of this nature is extremely rare,” said the judge.
Until 1999 a person could not be tried for the murder of a person who survived longer than a year and a day.
But that law was changed making Dunne the first person in the state to be tried for a murder in which the victim died outside that time frame.
Denis Vaughan-Buckley SC prosecuting asked Mr Justice Carney for time to allow for the preparation of victim impact statements.
These will be heard at the sentencing hearing on February 27th next in which Dunne will be formally given the mandatory term of life in prison.
Dunne shot Mr Kenny in the head and shoulder with a sawn-off shotgun, which had been hidden in a schoolyard, in his own car.
He then pushed him out of the passenger seat of his vehicle before setting fire to it, with the gun inside it, a short distance away at Dargle Woods, Knocklyon.
Garda Liam Brennan, who was on patrol in that area, came across Dunne walking along the road, sweating and covered in blood when he admitted shooting Mr Kenny.
“I shot Ian Kenny in the head due to circumstances. It was either him or me, I was done a favour and this is how I had to repay,” Dunne told him.
He later told gardaí he owed a favour because he lost a consignment of drugs worth €50,000 when he was a tennager and was told to shoot Mr Kenny twice in the head.
Speaking outside the Central Criminal Court the victim’s father John Kenny said the family was glad they got justice.
Deputy State pathologist Dr Michael Curtis gave evidence during the trial the cause of death was “bronchopneumonia, persistent vegetative state, brain injury due to gunshot wound with contributing factor - shotgun wound to the upper arm, July 4th, 2007.”
He told Mr Vaughan-Buckley people in a prolonged coma are at risk of developing pneumonia but can be kept alive by medical staff. But he said they eventually succumb to infections - “usually pneumonia”.
Dr Curtis said on internal examination there was evidence of widespread bronchopneumonia in both lungs.
He concluded the deceased had sustained a shotgun wound to the head and arm and as a result of being in a persistent vegetative state developed bronchopneumonia.
Mr Justice Carney told the jury the main issue they were concerned with in the case was causation, which comes before the court very seldom.
Mr Vaughan-Buckley told the jury in his closing speech Dunne was liable for the causation of the death of the deceased in more than a minimum way.
Brendan Grehan SC defending said causation was an objective factor, which had nothing to do with the intent of the person who carried out the shooting.