The Kinahan cartel took Michael Barr’s life when they shot him dead at the Sunset House pub in 2016, but they didn’t take his “lasting love and legacy”, Mr Barr’s sister has told the Special Criminal Court.
In a statement read out at a sentence hearing for the third man convicted of the murder, Noeleen Barr said the drugs cartel “do not understand the importance of a loving family. All that matters to them is drugs and wealth”. She said a family’s love is more valuable than anything and she is proud to call the “loveable rogue” Michael Barr her brother.
Christopher Slator (37) on Friday became the third man convicted of his murder after Ms Justice Tara Burns revealed the verdict of the three-judge, non-jury court on Friday. Having heard statements from Ms Barr and her brother’s partner Jade O’Shea, Ms Justice Burns sentenced Slator to the mandatory term of life imprisonment.
Ms O’Shea also wrote a statement in which she said she was engaged to him and they had a daughter together. Their child, she said, is “constantly talking about daddy” but now they have to endure the future without him.
Rational explanation
During the trial, Slator’s lawyers argued the prosecution had failed to prove there was no innocent explanation for how his DNA ended up on a mask and runners that were found in the back seat of the car used by Barr’s murderers. Ms Justice Burns disagreed, saying the only rational explanation for the DNA evidence is that he is guilty of murder.
The court also found that Slator fled the jurisdiction the day after the shooting by booking flights to Dubai with Eamon Cumberton of Mountjoy Square, who has previously been convicted of the murder. The two men returned to Ireland together about one month later. Ms Justice Burns said the flight was “extremely unusual” given that it was booked three hours ahead of departure and neither Cumberton nor Slator had any luggage or even a backpack or rucksack. She said the DNA evidence alone was enough to convict Slator but the “highly suspicious” flight provides further support for the conviction.
Slator of Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Barr at the Sunset House pub on Summerhill Parade in Dublin 1 on April 25th, 2016. He is the third man to be convicted of the murder.
Revealing the court’s verdict, Ms Justice Burns said that the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence which, she said, proved that Barr was murdered in a “planned and deliberate operation” involving at least three people — the two gunmen and a driver. Barr was a manager of the pub, she said, but was socialising on the night he was shot. Two men entered the pub with rubber masks over their heads and faces. Barr was shot seven times, five times in the head.
Slator’s DNA was found on the inside around the mouth of one of the masks where a DNA analyst said he would expect to find DNA from a person who had worn the mask. Slator’s DNA was also found on the inside tongue and laces of runners found on top of the guns used in the murder, where the DNA expert said he would expect to find DNA from the wearer. Ms Justice Burns said the court rejected as “implausible” a defence suggestion that Slator’s DNA could have gotten blown on to the mask and runners.
The judge found that the joint effect of DNA being on the mask and runners satisfied the court that the accused wore both and was involved in the murder.