Cork man loses appeal against conviction for murder of Paul Jones in row over property

The trial of Keith O'Hara and co-accused Helen Jones, the deceased’s sister, heard that the murder of Mr Jones arose out of a 'dispute' about the family home in Cork that was before the civil court

Keith O'Hara was convicted by a jury in December 2021 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and sentenced to life in prison. File picture

The Court of Appeal has rejected an argument that the taking of DNA samples breached the constitutional rights of a man who used a billhook to murder his partner's brother in a family dispute over property.

In dismissing a conviction appeal by Keith O’Hara, aged 47, the court also rejected the argument that search warrants in his case should have been excluded as there was no audio recording of the application for the warrants made by gardaí in the district court.