Wicklow murderer sentenced to 10 years for gun possession

A Wicklow man serving a life sentence for murder has been handed down a 10-year sentence for possessing the gun he used to murder a Dublin man in front of his partner and son.

Garrett O'Brien (aged 34) of Clover Hill in Bray was jailed for life earlier this month for murdering father-of-two Séamus O'Byrne on March 13, 2009.

Mr O'Byrne was shot five times in the driveway of his home at Tymon Park North in Tallaght, before his partner Sharon Rattigan managed to wrestle the weapon from a hooded gunman, getting shot in her own leg in the process.

Garrett O'Brien had pleaded not guilty to murder or to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

After a five-week trial, he was found unanimously guilty of murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.

Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley imposed the minimum sentence of ten years for the firearms offence, saying there was “little point” in increasing the sentence, given that Garrett O'Brien was already serving life in prison.

The judge agreed with lawyers for the DPP that in this case, the possession of a firearm was “in the upper range” of offences.

However she said it was difficult for the court to consider firearms offences separately, as the gun had been used for the crime of murder.

The life sentence for murder and the ten-year-sentence for firearms possession were both backdated to March 4, 2010, to run concurrently.

Counsel for Garrett O'Brien, Mr Feargal Kavanagh SC, said his client had never managed to break the cycle of heroin addiction developed from an early age, which had left him vulnerable to exploitation by criminal elements.

He also said Garrett O'Brien had been attacked by a fellow inmate with a double-bladed knife while in custody, leaving him with a permanent scar across his face.

Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley agreed that drug addiction was the “primary cause” of Garrett O'Brien falling into the company of those who had conspired to murder Séamus O'Byrne.

The trial heard that while Garrett O'Brien was the gunman, he was one of a gang of men who had plotted to kill Seamus O'Byrne over several days before the murder.

O'Brien's DNA was found on a phone recovered at the murder scene, while the phone's call records proved that he had been in touch with other suspects in the case around the time and area of the killing.

Séamus O'Byrne's sister Charis said her brother had been a “constant light” in the lives of his family, partner Sharon and two children Ricky and Jody.

“He was a very happy-go-lucky, loving person who didn't deserve to die the way he died,” she said.