Man faces retrial after appeal of murder conviction

A man who acted with others in the stabbing of a 28-year-old faces a retrial after the Court of Appeal overturned his murder conviction in a decision which drew relevance from a landmark UK Supreme Court ruling on joint enterprise.

Andrew Gibney, aged 24, of Drumheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Gerard Burnett at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, on August 21, 2012.

Mr Burnett suffered 30 stab wounds after he was attacked by a group of five men outside his girlfriend’s house and was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later.

Gibney was found guilty by a jury verdict of 10-2 and was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy on January 28, 2014.

In bringing an appeal against conviction, counsel for Gibney, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha , said his client had always fully accepted his moral and legal guilt for his part in the events which lead to Mr Burnett’s death.

However, Mr Ó Lideadha said that “a miscarriage of justice occurred in this trial, resulting in his conviction for murder”.

He said Gibney, in his drunken state, intended to cause harm to Mr Burnett but not serious harm. He admitted stabbing Mr Burnett three times but “others went further”.

There were five people in the beginning of the attack but three, including Gibney, left before two inflicted fatal wounds a short time, Mr Ó Lideadha said.

He referred to the recent UK Supreme Court decision known as ‘Jogee’, which found the British courts to have wrongly interpreted the law on joint enterprise for 30 years. Mr Ó Lideadha said the UK Supreme Court found that the British courts had not recognised the moral guilt of someone who went along with others to commit a crime that is subsequently escalated by somebody else.

Mr Ó Lideadha relied on a part of the judgment in Jogee, in which it was held that if a person is party to a violent attack on another, without an intent to assist in the causing of death or really serious harm but the violence escalates and results in death, he will not be guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Justice Sheehan, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, allowed the appeal and directed a retrial.

Gibney was remanded in custody to appear before the Central Criminal Court.