After less than an hour, Brian Kearney's appeal against the murder of his wife was dismissed, writes RUADHAN Mac CORMAICat the Court of Criminal Appeal
IN THE end, it took the three judges just 45 minutes to dismiss Brian Kearney’s appeal and when they did, a courtroom that had been subdued by hours of legal argument was all of a sudden jolted into life by yelling and tears.
Owen McLaughlin, who had found his daughter’s body in her bedroom in February 2006 and was a picture of quiet dignity throughout last year’s trial, gripped his wife’s hand tightly. “Yes!” hollered Owen jnr. “Back to his cage.”
Kearney didn’t react. His daughter Aoife caught his eye and said: “Sorry, Dad.” “No problem,” he whispered back.
Then the handcuffs were locked again and three prison officers led him past his late wife’s family. “Who’s smiling now?” Siobhán’s sister Deirdre said as he headed for the prison van.
More than 16 months after he was led almost unnoticed through the chaotic throng that pressed into court to hear the verdict in his murder trial, Kearney returned to Court No 1 yesterday as the sole object of everyone’s gaze.
Gone was the suit and tie he wore to court every day last spring, replaced with jeans, sandals and an open-neck shirt. He looked more relaxed. His hair was tighter and a little greyer, a cotton bag took the place of his briefcase and his wedding ring was missing.
“How are you?” he whispered with a half-smile as he passed his daughter on his way to his seat.
Kearney was joined, as he was every day of the trial, by his brother Niall, daughter Aoife and his father. Siobhán’s parents Owen and Deirdre, her sisters Caroline, Deirdre, Niamh, Brighid, Aisling, Ann Marie and brother Owen took up their places in the court, where they stole an occasional glance at Kearney four feet to their left.
Setting out his grounds for appealing a conviction he believed was “manifestly unsafe”, Michael O’Higgins SC said that, unlike in the case of Joe O’Reilly, there was no “silver bullet or smoking gun” in this one – a reference to phone records and CCTV evidence that undermined O’Reilly’s defence in his trial for the murder of his wife.
That was the first of many references yesterday to a case to which Kearney’s has often been associated.
Denis Vaughan Buckley SC insisted the evidence against Kearney was “almost overwhelming” and reminded the three-judge bench, somewhat irrelevantly, that Ms Kearney was found dead on her husband’s birthday.
“Mr Vaughan Buckley, we’re not a jury,” came the interjection from Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, the presiding judge. “I apologise for that,” the barrister replied.
About an hour after the verdict was delivered, the McLaughlins – perhaps surprised that it came so soon – stood in the gusty rain and read from hastily written statements about their satisfaction and their grief.
“Justice has been done twice for Siobhán,” her mother Deirdre said. “My family will be heartbroken for the rest of our lives. Brian Kearney will eventually smell fresh grass. Our darling won’t.”
Shaking with anger, Owen jnr said Kearney had “callously murdered” his sister and made a “botched effort to make it look like suicide”. Her family had always known that could never had happened. “He shamelessly feigned innocence at the expense of further suffering for our family. Finally this evil man is back where he belongs – behind bars.”
Aisling McLaughlin thanked the Garda, the DPP and family and friends for their support.
“All that Siobhán wanted was to be out of an unhappy marriage – that’s all – to start a new stage in her life . . . back with her family.”
She should be celebrating the birth of her new niece and looking forward to the arrival of another nephew. “Instead Siobhán is in Redford cemetery in Greystones. She is 38 years of age. She is always 38. We’ll never forget her.”