Hitman found guilty of attempted murder of Kinahan cartel target

A hitman who shot and injured Kinahan cartel target James "Mago" Gately was found guilty of attempted murder by the non-jury Special Criminal Court on Tuesday.

A second man has been found guilty for his part in burning out the car used in the shooting.

Mr Gately was shot five times as he sat in his car at the Topaz filling station on the Clonshaugh Road in north Dublin at lunchtime on May 10th 2017. The victim, who was warned by gardaí of a threat to his life and wore a bullet-proof vest, survived the shooting after sustaining injuries to his upper chest and neck.

The three-judge court found it was beyond reasonable doubt that Caolan Smyth (28) was both the driver and gunman who pulled alongside Mr Gately’s Ford Mondeo and fired the shots.

Smyth of Cuileann Court, Donore, Co Meath, had pleaded not guilty to Mr Gately’s attempted murder. He had also denied the possession of a firearm with intent to endanger on the same date and location.

The attack marked the second attempt to murder Mr Gately, with former Estonian separatist Imre Arakas having been intercepted by gardaí before he could carry out a contract on the victim’s life the month beforehand. Arakas (62) was jailed by the Special Criminal Court for six years in December 2018 after he admitted to conspiring with others to murder James Gately in Northern Ireland between April 3rd and 4th 2017.

The prosecution had argued there was “no other conclusion” than Smyth being the man who “pulled the trigger”, while the court also heard that Smyth had put Mr Gately under surveillance the day before and on the morning of the shooting.

Gary McAreavey (52) of Gort Nua, Station Road, Castlebellingham, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty to acting to “impede an apprehension or prosecution by purchasing petrol and assisting in the burning out of the vehicle, a black Lexus, used in the attempted murder” at Newrath, Dromiskin, Co Louth on the same day.

On Tuesday, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it was beyond any reasonable doubt that Smyth was both the gunman and the driver in an "organised murder" attempt.

The prosecution case relied on mobile phone locations through cell towers and phone-use tied to the car’s movements over May 9th-10th and positive Garda identifications of Smyth from CCTV at the filling station.

Shortly after the attempted murder, McAreavey was spotted on CCTV in Castlebellingham filling petrol into a red petrol can, which the non-jury court found was used in the “comprehensive destruction” of the getaway car near Dromiskin after Smyth and McAreavey travelled in convoy to the burn-site.

Two cartridges were found in the wreckage but the firearm was not recovered.

Prosecution barrister Ms Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, in her closing speech had said that the circumstantial case against Smyth “is a whodunnit, where the only issue is if Caolan Smyth did it”.

Counsel said the shooting was a “planned” one, which involved the “stake-out” of Mr Gately’s north Dublin home that began the day before, May 9th 2017. Mr Gately’s address had been confirmed by gardaí­ during the trial as the location where he received information that his life was under threat.

She said there was “a blanket of evidence that extinguishes oxygen from any other reasonable possibility other than Caolan Smyth being the driver of that vehicle,” said Ms Lawlor. “This isn’t a case of identifying a snowman in a blizzard,” she said.

“The weight of the evidence is of a kind that the court can have no doubt whatsoever but that Mr Smyth was the person who shot Mr Gately,” said Ms Lawlor.

The car, which had previously been in the service of the Pakistan embassy and had diplomatically registered plates, had been captured on camera before the shooting without any passenger present.

At around 1.30pm on May 10th it was viewed on CCTV idling at the petrol station before pulling up to Mr Gately’s red Ford Mondeo.

Gun-smoke and was visible on CCTV and Mr Gately could be seen getting out of his car and falling to the ground.

The Lexus, which was recognisable by tinted rear windows and a flag-holder, then sped off, almost colliding with another car.

The car’s movements were traced through Smyth’s use of a mobile phone, whose number was found in the contact book of McAreavey’s phone, after he saved a text to it that read “Smythser new”.

Witnesses told gardaí­ that a large pall of smoke could be seen from the burn site at Dromiskin at around 2.50pm later the same day.

Delivering judgement, Mr Justice Hunt said that it was “beyond reasonable doubt” that Smyth was the driver of “the murder car”.

The judge said that Smyth was also identifiable on CCTV from his clothing and from a “distinctive tattoo on his right arm of a striking young female”.

Four gardaí­ gave evidence that they could also identify the defendant from CCTV images of Smyth emerging from his home on both May 9th and May 10th.

After the shooting, CCTV captured McAreavey in a white Caddy van reversing from his home and waiting for Smyth. The pair exchanged calls as Smyth approached and both vehicles went to the burn site. CCTV from a farm also captured that only the Caddy van returned from the remote road at Dromiskin.

Mr Justice Hunt said that he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Smyth’s guilt, adding that Mr Gately only survived the attempt because he was “forewarned by gardaí and forearmed by the vest”.

The judge said that the rural burn site was selected “to ensure there would be no trace left for investigators”.

Mr Justice Hunt said that the phone and car were in “consistent association with Mr Smyth, before, during and after the shooting”.

“Then the music stopped and Caolan Smyth was clearly the only man left standing,” said the judge.

He found Smyth guilty on both the attempted murder and the possession of a weapon charge.

Regarding McAreavey, the judge said that counsel had argued that no evidence of McAreavey’s state of mind had been put forward by the prosecution and that there was therefore no evidence that he knew Smyth had committed a crime.

However, the judge said that there was “no doubt” that the phone used by McAreavey had more than one number for Smyth in it.

Mr Justice Hunt said that the calls after the attempted murder and the transit in convoy were “not coincidental” and revealed a pattern.

He added that contact between the two phones only ceased when Smyth and McAreavey met up before burning out the murder car.

“He knew well before he [McAreavey] provided assistance. I am satisfied that that threshold has been comfortably passed,” said the judge, who added that McAreavey lied to gardaí­ in his interview, when McAreavey denied knowing Smyth.

“He [McAreavey] had no possible reason to deny knowing him [Smyth] unless it was not an innocent denial,” said the judge, who then found McAreavy guilty of assisting in the burning out of the car.

McAreavey was granted bail and both men will reappear before the Special Criminal Court on January 25th for sentencing.