GUILTY
Man is convicted of murdering Irishman shot dead in front of his family on Spanish holiday
A MAN was yesterday convicted of murdering an Irishman described as a “gentle giant” after a petty row at in a Spanish bar. The jury unanimously found Darren O’flaherty, 42, guilty of killing John O’neill in July 2010. The four-day trial in Malaga heard the 40-year-old plasterer was on his first foreign holiday with his partner and two small children when he was shot in the stomach in a “surprise attack” in the Costa del Sol. Jurors heard Liverpudlian O’flaherty returned to the bar with a .38 revolver and targeted drinkers after being kicked out for an unprovoked attack on a friend of the slain Irishman who had been using a toilet he was trying to get into. CCTV footage played in court showed him pointing the weapon at a father and his cerebral palsy-sufferer son after shooting Mr O’neill, from Coolock, North Dublin. O’flaherty, who was on the run from UK police when he carried out the shooting, declined to testify. His lawyers said he was drunk and on drugs the night of the murder and suffered from mental health problems that reduced his criminal responsibility. But jurors said there was “no evidence” for that and rejected their argument. Mr O’neill’s aunt Peig Dowdall described him as “a gorgeous, big soft guy, always with a smile on his face”. She added: “He was just in the wrong place.” Speaking on the anniversary of her partner’s murder, Maxine Sutcliffe said: “The last year has been devastating. There aren’t words to describe what we went through. “It was like you were living a nightmare and you didn’t know when it was going to end and how. But the worst thing is, we’re still going through it, every second of every day.” Recalling the moment her “best friend” slipped away, she added: “I looked and I saw him lying on the pavement. “I ran over to get to him but the police pushed me back. I told them I needed to hold his hand but they said no.” O’flaherty was also convicted of attempting to murder bar manager James Walsh and owning an unlicensed gun used in the shooting at Coco’s Bar in the holiday resort of Benalmadena. But he was cleared of the attempted murder of a second bar worker. Prosecutors urged judge Julio Ruiz to jail O’flaherty for 17 years for Mr O’neill’s murder, 12 years for the attempted murder and a 18 months for the weapons conviction. The sentence will be delivered in writing within the next fortnight. The Briton learnt his fate through a translator and looked briefly at relatives in the courtroom who included his mum and dad before hanging his head. His lawyer Cristina Carrillo said afterwards she would appeal. Mr O’neill had been at a wedding with Ms Sutcliffe and their children Jake, who was three, and daughter Jasmine, then nine months, the day before his death. As well as a lengthy prison sentence, O’flaherty also faces having to compensate Ms Sutcliffe and her two children with up to €250,000. He was arrested on a European arrest warrant in Wales in 2013. He was extradited to Spain in February 2015 after serving prison time in the UK for his role in a knifepoint hold-up. Jurors were told O’flaherty was using a false name when he killed Mr O’neill but the charge of using fake documentation was withdrawn.