Judge accuses murderer of smirking during sentencing

A judge has today accused a man of smirking during his sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of his friend.

Mr Justice Paul Carney made the comments during the sentencing hearing of Jonathan Dunne, who was found guilty of murdering Ian Kenny by a jury last month and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Dunne (aged 26), of Windmill Park, Crumlin in Dublin had previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter Mr Kenny at Lakelands Road, Stillorgan on July 31, 2009.

He was already serving a 12-year sentence but was tried for his murder after Mr Kenny died in hospital two years after the shooting in the landmark case.

“Your client seemed to be sitting back smirking. It will be on the record now for the parole board,” Mr Justice Paul Carney told Mr Brendan Grehan SC defending, who said he client denied this.

“Mr Dunne has instructed his solicitor he wasn’t smirking. Let that be on the record also,” Mr Grehan replied.

The father-of-two was shot at close range on July 4, 2007 and remained in a vegetative state until he passed away on July 31, 2009.

It was a landmark case, as prior to 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.

A sister of the deceased, Miss Dion Kenny, read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of her mother Kathleen in which she described the effects on the family.

In her statement, Mrs Kenny said her family remained heartbroken since the day her son was shot in July 2007.

“He might not have killed him on that date which eventually led to his death but he did take away the life that Ian had,” said Mrs Kenny in her victim impact statement.

“It was heart-breaking to visit my son, who was so lively and happy-go-lucky and watch him lie there not being able to do anything.

“Ian was obviously clueless of what was about to happen that day. He said he was going swimming and that he wouldn’t be long.”

The jury heard 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.

The court heard 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.