A 22-year-old will be sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering a man in front of his partner on the driveway of their home.
The jury of six men and six women took six hours and 19 minutes to reach a majority verdict of 11 to one on the murder charge against Warren Nolan of Rowlagh Park in Clondalkin who shot dead Alan O'Neill (35) at Kiltalown Road, Tallaght on May 27th, 2015.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court also found Nolan guilty by unanimous verdict of setting on fire the car used in the killing at Belfry Square in Tallaght on the same date. He had denied both charges.
Nolan, who denies the charges, did not react to the verdict and was brought away to the cell area by prison officers.
Mr O'Neill's partner Michelle Usher, who was a key witness for the prosecution and sat through the two-week trial, was comforted by family and friends after the verdict was delivered.
Maddie Grant BL for the prosecution said Mr O’Neill’s family will make a statement to the court on January 14th when Mr Justice Paul McDermott will sentence Nolan to the mandatory term for murder of life imprisonment.
Mr Justice McDermott thanked the jurors for their service in what he said was a “difficult” trial and exempted them from jury service for 10 years. The prosecution relied on CCTV evidence and forensics to secure the conviction of the 22-year-old.
During the trial, Ms Usher gave evidence that she was in her living room when she saw her partner park his car on the driveway at about 10pm on May 27th, 2015.
When she saw a people carrier pull up behind it, she leaned closer to the window as she thought it “peculiar”.
Then a “dark figure” came into the garden.
He looked like a “young fella” and so when she heard two “really loud bangs” she thought it was a joke until, as she opened the door, she heard another bang, saw a blue flash and a black gun in the dark figure’s hand followed by Mr O’Neill screaming out in pain.
Ms Usher caught hold of Mr O’Neill and brought him in the doorway to the living room while another shot smashed the window of the hall door. “Everything happened so quickly and I just didn’t believe what was going on.”
She saw the figure with the gun run out of the garden and get back in the people carrier which then “took off”.
Nolan was arrested within minutes of the shooting.
No motive was suggested for the murder during the trial.