Man pleads guilty to ‘helping’ with killing
Charge changed in Hutch-Kinahan feud death case
A MAN has admitted helping a criminal gang murder Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan, who was killed as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud in December 2016.
Jason Keating, 27, pleaded guilty to the offence at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday morning.
He had been on trial for the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan – a long-time friend of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch – but the court was told the State will not be proceeding with that charge.
Keating, of Lower Main Street, Rush, Co. Dublin, admitted yesterday to helping to facilitate a serious offence by a criminal organisation – namely the murder of Mr Kirwan at St Ronan’s Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin – between November 8 and December 22, 2016.
Judge Tony Hunt said the new charge was most useful in cases where people play roles short of ‘pulling the trigger’. This is believed to be the second time a person has been convicted for this offence under the organised crime legislation introduced in 2006. Mr Kirwan was sitting in his car when a gunman shot him six times with a handgun, on December 22, 2016. The 62-yearold, a ‘long-time’ friend of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, suffered gunshot wounds to his head, right arm, chest and abdomen.
The court heard that the murder of Mr Kirwan arose from a ‘notorious’ feud between two criminal factions, but that Mr Kirwan had no connection with either side.
Mr Kirwan’s partner, Bernadette Roe, was with him at the time of the attack, having returned from lunch in Crumlin with Ms Roe’s daughter. The prosecution argued that, in the weeks before Mr Kirwan’s death, a tracking device had been put under his car, and that the device could be linked to Keating.
State Solicitor Michael O’Donovan told the three-judge court yesterday morning that the DPP had directed that Keating be brought before the court and charged with the offence of participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence.
Detective Sergeant Damien Gannon, of Lucan Garda Station, gave evidence that he met Keating and explained the charge to him. When asked how he was pleading to the new charge, Keating replied: ‘Guilty.’
Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, asked the court that a ‘nolle prosequi’, or an indication that the State will not proceed with a charge, be entered in relation to the charge of murder at the sentence hearing next month.
Judge Hunt, presiding, remanded Keating in custody until November 22, when he will be sentenced.
The judge noted that the ‘first instance’ of the offence of ‘helping to facilitate a serious offence’ had been dealt with by the court on Monday, when Martin Aylmer, 31, of Marino, Dublin 3, was sentenced to three years, nine months for helping a criminal organisation murder bar manager Michael Barr at the Sunset House pub, Summerhill Parade, Dublin 1, on April 25, 2016.
He said the court would need to know at the sentence hearing what was offered ‘in terms of assistance’ by Keating and what the defendant’s state of mind had been.
Judge Hunt called the new charge ‘most useful in cases where people play parts which fall short of actually pulling the trigger’, and praised the ‘flexibility’ it facilitates.
New charge is ‘most useful’