An appeal by a Co Donegal man against his conviction for the murder of an elderly pensioner was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Paul Lynch (22), from Ballybrollaghan, Frosses, had appealed his conviction for the murder of William Campbell (77), during a robbery at his home at Drumard, Frosses, between 3.30 p.m. on September 22nd and 10 a.m. on September 23rd, 1995. He had pleaded guilty to murder on February 10th, 1997.
He claimed he was put under improper pressure by his lawyers to plead guilty and that therefore his plea was void. His claims were denied by his then solicitor, Mr Dara Robinson, and barrister, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC.
In the judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Barron, who heard the case with Mr Justice O'Donovan and Mr Justice O'Higgins, said it was satisfied that both counsel and solicitor had acted properly and in the interest of their client.
Mr Justice Barron said that in the present case the dispute was not between the DPP and Lynch, it was between Lynch and his legal advisers. The appeal court was being asked not only to resolve that dispute but also to decide whether in all the circumstances there would be a lacking in the principle of fairness to refuse Lynch a trial on the merits.
i. Anyone considering this and the facts must have had considerable difficulty in understanding them and the main question which they would have asked would have been "why." Mr Justice Barron referred to a number of consultations in the case and said that following the conviction and sentence, Lynch's mother sought to obtain legal advice to reopen the matter.
Her main concern at that stage was, the court was sure, her belief that her son was not responsible for the death of the victim but merely responsible for having assaulted him.
At the same time, she was concerned with what she saw as something being wrong with the book of evidence.
It was not until December 1997 that the present allegation that Lynch was compelled to plead guilty was first raised.
Mr Justice Barron said the main picture was clear. There was a very strong case against Lynch, which was virtually copperfastened by his statement. The legal advisers' first steps were to consider the defences of insanity and causation. When these were blocked off, Mr Robinson tried to find out any possible reason for the crime from Lynch's sisters. They were unable to help.
As it seemed to Mr Robinson that Lynch would have to be advised to plead guilty in his own interest, he was anxious that the family members and his mother in particular would not influence him to the contrary.
His mother must have indicated her dislike of a plea of guilty on the 27th.
Mr Justice Barron said the court was satisfied that everything possible was done to explore any possible avenue of defence and that none emerged.