Kerry Man’s murder conviction upheld

A Kerryman with learning difficulties has lost his appeal before Europe’s top human rights court to have his conviction for a murder in the North overturned.

The European Court of Human Rights yesterday rejected an application by Matthew O’Donnell, aged 38, who comes originally from Castlemaine, Co Kerry, that the manner of his conviction had breached his rights to a fair trial.

O’Donnell, who also lived at various stages in Tralee, Monaghan, and Galway, is serving a life sentence with the requirement to serve a minimum of 12 years at Maghaberry Prison in Lisburn, for the murder of Noel Williamson in Caledon, Co Tyrone, in October 2004.

O’Donnell lodged the case against the British government in 2010, claiming his rights were breached under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Lawyers for O’Donnell claimed the trial judge had allowed the jury to draw an adverse inference from his failure to testify and also claimed that the judge failed to direct the jury to consider whether there was a case to answer.

However, lawyers for the British government told the court it was not a case where O’Donnell’s conviction was based solely or mainly on his refusal to testify.

They argued that circumstantial evidence against O’Donnell was very strong as there was evidence he had encouraged a co-accused to “just kill” the deceased, while an item of his clothing was found heavily stained with Mr Williamson’s blood.

In addition, they stated the safeguards offered by the trial judge in summing up to the jury were sufficient.

The ECHR unanimously rejected both arguments put forward by O’Donnell’s lawyers that there was any unfairness in the conduct of his murder trial.

However, one of the seven ECHR judges who ruled on the case, Judge Krzystof Wojtyczek from Poland, expressed reservations, claiming it raised questions about the ECHR’s own criteria for assessing how to treat the right to silence.

The victim’s body had been found on the banks of a river on October 13, 2004.

The trial heard O’Donnell had spent most of the previous day drinking in public with Mr Williamson and another man, Samuel Houston, who was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

There was evidence that O’Donnell and Houston had been threatening and aggressive towards a number of individuals, with threats to kill Mr Williamson.

O’Donnell was extradited from the Republic to the North in April 2007.

At his trial, O’Donnell’s lawyers sought a ruling that his mental condition made it undesirable for him to be called to give evidence. O’Donnell has an IQ which places him in the bottom 1% of the population and an understanding of spoken English which is equivalent of that of a six-year-old child.

During legal argument, the trial heard evidence from a psychologist who raised concerns that O’Donnell’s low IQ would place him in considerable difficulty if he were to give evidence as he would be highly suggestible, have problems understanding questions, and would find it difficult to give coherent responses.

However, the judge rejected the defence’s application on the basis he could control any questions that might be put to O’Donnell if he gave evidence.

O’Donnell did not give evidence and the trial judge said he would give an adverse inference to the jury, although he allowed the psychologist to give evidence about his concerns.

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