'Murderer in drag' complains in appeal his reply to garda indicated hitman's 'hardness'

Keith Walker was shot dead as he stood chatting with fellow pigeon enthusiasts at the Blanchardstown Pigeon Racing Club.

Christopher McDonald (pictured with hood over his head), from the East Wall area of Dublin, was found guilty of murder by unanimous jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court three years ago. File photo: Paddy Cummins/PCPhoto.ie

A 37-year-old Dublin man has appealed against his conviction for being the murderer in drag, who gunned a man down with a sub-machine gun in a busy car park.

Christopher McDonald’s lawyer has argued that the jury should not have heard his reply to arrest: "Go F**k yourself", as it indicated a hardness that would be expected from a professional hitman.

McDonald, from the East Wall area of Dublin, was found guilty of murder by unanimous jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court three years ago.

He had pleaded not guilty to murdering Keith Walker (aged 36) at the Blanchardstown Pigeon Racing Club on Shelerin Road, Clonsilla, Dublin on June 12, 2015.

The trial heard that Mr Walker was shot dead as he stood chatting with fellow pigeon enthusiasts. He had arrived at the club in a car belonging to his friend Jason O'Connor.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of a person pulling a gun from a handbag and opening fire on Mr Walker that evening. The prosecution case was that it was McDonald, dressed in drag.

A post mortem revealed that the victim was hit 18 times and died from bullet wounds to his head and body.

Gardaí later found the gun used inside a handbag in a laneway about a kilometre from the club. Alongside the 9mm calibre Makarov sub-machine gun were a black wig and transparent latex glove. McDonald's DNA was on the wig and glove, both of which also contained traces of firearms residue.

The guilty verdict was met by shouts and tears, with one man shouting: "Scumbag junkie bastard, I hope you rot," before Justice Patrick McCarthy sentenced McDonald to life imprisonment.

Today's appeal submission

McDonald today appealed his murder conviction to the Court of Appeal, with his barrister, Michael Bowman SC, arguing several grounds in his submissions.

These included that the trial judge had erred in refusing to discharge the jury when Jason O'Connor, a friend of the deceased, had lunged and allegedly threatened his client while Mr O’Connor was on his way to the witness box to give evidence.

This showed that Mr O’Connor had clearly formed the view that McDonald was responsible for the killing, he said.

Counsel said that the prejudice caused to his client by this was compounded by the jury hearing that McDonald’s reply to the arresting sergeant was "go f**k yourself". The sergeant was not permitted to give evidence of this reply, but prosecution counsel had already referred to it in his opening speech, he noted.

“That’s something that stands out in the minds of a jury,” suggested Mr Bowman. “His immediate reaction was not to protest his innocence…. It communicates a complete disregard for the situation he finds himself in, a disregard for the rule of law.” 

Counsel suggested that the jury’s first introduction to his client’s disposition would have begun to erode his presumption of innocence.

“What would someone expect from a hitman, a professional killer, but the response made?” he suggested.

Justice John Edwards pointed out that many people, for all sorts of reasons, don’t like the Gardaí.

“The fact that someone says, ‘go f**k yourself’, all it means is that there was no love lost between him and the guards,” he said. 

Are you really suggesting that the jury would have been so undiscerning that they wouldn‘t have appreciated that?

Justice Edwards agreed that, perhaps, the prosecution counsel ought not to have said it, but suggested that it didn’t justify the discharge of jury.

“He was effectively detained at gunpoint,” replied Mr Bowman, adding that this had happened in the early hours of the morning.

“Not surprise, shock, silence,” he said of his client’s reaction.

“It indicated a hardness or firmness that one wouldn’t be surprised to associate with a professional capable of the actions alleged,” he said of the words used.

The barrister suggested that a negative first impression had been created.

“The defendant was swimming against the tide from that point,” he said.

Mr Bowman also submitted that the trial judge had erred in ruling that his client was unlawfully detained between 5.40am and 6.10am on June 13, 2015, and in admitting evidence of an informal identification carried out during that period.

He further argued that the judge had erred in admitting evidence in respect of forensic samples taken from his client, who had given consent for their taking around the same time that he had been prescribed methadone.

Court President Justice George Birmingham (presiding), along with Justice Edwards and Justice Brian Murray, adjourned hearing the rest of the appeal in order for both parties to submit further written submissions on this ground.

The court gave each side a number of weeks to do so.