Dwyer HAS appealed his murder conviction
AHEAD of an afternoon deadline today, it has been confirmed that Graham Dwyer has appealed his murder conviction.
There were reports that Elaine O’Hara’s sadistic killer had yet to lodge his appeal but his lawyer confirmed he did so last week.
GRAHAM Dwyer has submitted an appeal against his conviction for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O’Hara.
Despite media reports that time was running out for Dwyer to lodge an appeal ahead of a lunchtime deadline today, the killer actually did so last week, his solicitor Jonathan Dunphy confirmed.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Mr Dunphy said the 42-year-old former architect lodged notice of an appeal last week with the governor of Midlands Regional Prison Colm Barclay, who is required to forward the notice to the Court of Appeal.
As he sentenced the former architect on April 20, Judge Tony Hunt told Dwyer’s legal team they had 21 days to lodge an appeal.
Mr Dunphy did not disclose the grounds on which Dwyer is appealing. It has been widely speculated, however, that Dwyer’s legal team will claim the judge misdirected the jury before they decided their verdict – or that he had let in evidence that should have been inadmissible, which might include the videos of violent sex shown.
The appeal could also be based on objections that US woman Darci Day gave evidence by video link.
Dwyer has been held in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise as he serves what is likely to be in excess of 25 years in jail.
The unit where Dwyer is living out his sentence holds up to 150 rapists and sex criminals including gangland paedophile Christy Griffin.
It has previously been reported that Dwyer is separately suing the State and challenging the admissibility of using phone records to convict him.
Dwyer denied murdering Ms O’Hara at Killakee Woods in August 2012 but was convicted after his obsession for stabbing was uncovered and a trawl of his and Ms O’Hara’s mobile phone text messages linked him to the crime. Meanwhile, wife-killer Joe O’Reilly will today find out if his latest bid for freedom will be heard by the Supreme Court. O’Reilly claims his conviction for the murder of his wife Rachel should be declared a ‘miscarriage of justice’ because a book of evidence was accidentally left in the jury room on during his 2007 trial.
Speaking to the Mail, Rachel’s father Jim Callaly said he hopes O’Reilly’s ‘throws of the dice’ will finally run out today. Mr Callaly and his wife Rose have endured eight years of legal attempts by O’Reilly to quash his conviction. Mr Callaly told the Mail last night: ‘We are just hoping for an end to all of this. It has been upsetting.’
O’Reilly, 42, bludgeoned his wife to death on October 4, 2004 at the home they shared in The Naul, Dublin. He was unanimously convicted in July 2007 and jailed for life. If O’Reilly wins today, then his appeal is likely to be heard by the end of the year.