Conviction can be used in Nevin estate case
THE Supreme Court has ruled that Catherine Nevin’s conviction for the murder of her husband can be relied on by his family in their bid to ensure her estate does not benefit from his.
The full hearing of the civil disinheritance proceedings will be heard later.
A five-judge Supreme Court yesterday unanimously dismissed an appeal on behalf of the executors of Ms Nevin’s estate against a finding the conviction was admissible in those proceedings as evidence of Ms Nevin’s guilt of the murder of her husband Tom.
Lawyers for Ms Nevin’s estate had argued the conviction does not amount to proof of her guilt of Tom Nevin’s murder and was proof only she was “found guilty”. Ms Nevin died in a hospice in February 2018 having been given compassionate temporary release from her life sentence.
Giving the Supreme Court judgment, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley pointed out the ruling sought by the Nevin family relates only to the admissibility of the murder conviction “in civil proceedings”. The proper approach to the relevant provision of the Succession Act, Section 120, remains to be determined, she stressed.
Mr Nevin was murdered in 1996 in Brittas, Co Wicklow. Catherine Nevin was convicted in 2000 of the murder.
Tom Nevin’s mother, Nora, initiated proceedings in November 1997 seeking that Catherine Nevin be disinherited.
Mr Nevin died intestate and the couple had no children.