A 23-year-old Dublin man has been jailed for life by the Central Criminal Court for the murder of Noel Roche on Clontarf Road four years ago.
Mr Justice George Birmingham imposed the mandatory life sentence for the crime which he said all sides in the case had agreed was an “assassination” and a “gang land hit”.
A jury of seven men and five women took just over half an hour to convict Craig White of the murder. Mr Justice Birmingham thanked the jury for its participation in what he called a “sensitive” trial.
The jury had requested that their daily roll call be conducted in private each morning rather than in open court because of the nature of the case.
White, of O’Devaney Gardens in north inner city Dublin, had denied murdering 27-year-old Noel Roche on Clontarf Road on November 15th, 2005.
Mr Roche was found shot dead in the passenger seat of a Ford Mondeo. Four shots were fired into the car through a tinted passenger window at about 10.30pm. He was hit three times and died at the scene from his injuries.
The driver of the vehicle in which Mr Roche died fled the scene and was not part of this trial.
The jury heard that Mr Roche had been at a Phil Collins gig at the Point with his girlfriend and relatives but received a phone call and left the concert early.
Not long after the shooting a stolen Peugeot 307 was abandoned by two men on Furry Park Road. Gardai found a can of petrol in the car and a paper bag containing a balaclava and the Glock semi automatic pistol which was used to shoot Mr Roche. A pair of gloves was also found along Furry Park Road.
The jury heard forensic evidence that White’s fingerprints were found on the paper bag and his DNA was on its handles. Partial DNA profiles matching White’s were also found on the gloves which had been discarded along Furry Park Road.
Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, said that White was involved in the murder of Mr Roche in a joint enterprise. He said it was not necessary to establish whether Mr White fired the weapon or whether he drove the car. The State said Mr White was one of those two people and that each was as guilty of murder as the other.
Mr Sammon said Mr White was “all over the place forensically” and he and his partner had “messed up” when they abandoned the car without setting fire to it.
Prosecuting counsel said he did not wish to put victim impact evidence before the court. The mother of the deceased declined to speak to reporters outside the court room and simply said that she was sorry for White’s family.