Killer-rapist is cleared of gun attack on drug dealer

A convicted killer and rapist, who strangled a Cork beautician, has been cleared of a gun attack in Limerick.

After a five-day trial, a jury at Limerick Circuit Court gave a unanimous not-guilty verdict regarding Ian Horgan, 30, originally from Inishmore Square, Ballincollig, and with an address at 68 Lenihan Avenue, Prospect in Limerick, who denied the unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Prospect on December 13, 2013.

The case arose out of a gun attack on Seán Finnan, then aged 26, a convicted drug dealer who was shot and wounded as he stood outside a house he shared with his then partner, Leanne Casey.

Mr Horgan was convicted in November 2002 of the murder and rape of Rachel Kiely, aged 22, at Ballincollig Regional Park on October 26, 2000.

The Court of Appeal in 2004 overturned the verdict as unsafe.

At a retrial, Mr Horgan was convicted of manslaughter and rape and jailed for 12 years.

Yesterday, a jury of six men and six women returned their not-guilty verdict after deliberating for just over 1.5 hours.

Leanne Casey, former partner of Seán Finnan and mother of their four-month-old baby, was the main prosecution witness.

She recalled being at home at Byrne Avenue on the night of the shooting. At around 9.30pm Seán Finnan went out to the front door to have a cigarette. He did not like smoking in the house since the birth of their baby. She joined him to get a “pull” of his cigarette.

As she stood with Seán Finnan at the front door, two men approached, one standing in front of the other.

One produced a shotgun and opened fire. Seán Finnan was hit. The gunman fired a second shot and as he did so, a scarf covering his face came down and she said that person was the accused, Ian Horgan. She said she knew Mr Horgan to see as he was going out with local woman Teresa O’Neill.

Det Garda Declan O’Halloran gave evidence of interviews conducted with Mr Horgan after his arrest. Mr Horgan denied involvement in the shooting of Mr Finnan, who he did not know.

He claimed firearm residue found on his right hand came from using a double-barrelled shotgun some days previously when he met a farmer friend in Cork and he went to a rural area where he fired shots at trees.