Three men jailed for the kidnapping and torture of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney have appealed their convictions, arguing that phone records used in their trial were an invasion of privacy.
Barristers for Alan Harte (43), Alan O’Brien (43), and Darren Redmond (30) also say that CCTV footage should not have been allowed into evidence, as witnesses were not required to take an oath during the main body of their trial.
Following the trial at the Special Criminal Court in December 2022, Harte, of Island Quay Apartments, O’Brien, of Shelmalier Road, and Redmond, from Caledon Road, all in East Wall, Dublin 3, were convicted of false imprisonment and intentionally causing harm to Mr Lunney at a yard at Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan on September 17, 2019.
Harte inflicted most of Mr Lunney’s serious injuries, including knife wounds to his face and torso, after he was abducted from his home in Co Fermanagh on September 17, 2019.
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.
Launching an appeal against the men’s convictions on Monday, counsel for Harte, Michael O’Higgins SC, said that the Special Criminal Court had erred by admitting into the trial evidence that was not the subject of a sworn oath.
Counsels for O’Brien and Redmond, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC and Michael Bowman SC, said they both adopted the same submission on behalf of their clients.
In response, counsel for the DPP, Seán Guerin SC, said that the evidence had been given by live witnesses before the triers of fact, meaning there was no deprivation of the appellants’ right to a fair trial.
A further ground of appeal raised by the defence was that the trial judges erred in refusing to adjourn the trial so that the law could be clarified about the admissibility of phone records.
An application was made to adjourn the trial as the law on the retention of phone data was in a state of flux. However, the State argued that the trial court was correct to find that the gardaí were entitled to rely on the law as it stood at the time they obtained the evidence.
On behalf of O’Brien, Mr Ó Lideadha said that gardaí had used a procedure to obtain phone records that was not designed for this purpose, as the legislation used does not meet the requirements of the constitutional invasion of rights.
The appeal continues on Tuesday. before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, presiding over the three-judge court.