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Carroll Trial: accettate tutte le prove contro Brendan McConville

Carroll evidence won’t be excluded

The judge in the Stephen Carroll murder trial has refused a defence application to throw out the evidence of a key prosecution witness against a former Sinn Féin councillor, who denies involvement in the shooting.

Brendan McConvilleTrial judge Lord Justice Girvan accepted that police had breached the code of practice over the evidence of ‘Witness M’, but ruled they had not acted in bad faith and their decision to not hold an identification parade was not irrational.

‘Witness M’ purports to have seen the 40-year-old former councillor – Brendan McConville of Glenholme Avenue, Craigavon – just prior to the shooting of Constable Carroll in March 2009.

A defence QC had argued that the breach of the police in not organising an identification parade to test M’s claims, was so serious and adverse to McConville’s case it was unfair and should be excluded.

In turn the prosecution told Mr Girvan that even if he deemed it unfair, he still had the discretion to ignore defence arguments and rule witness M’s evidence as admissible.

The judge, in his truncated ruling, said he would explain more fully later his reasons in concluding that the adverse effect of the police breach was not as such that justice required the evidence of M to be excluded.

However, Lord Justice Girvan added that the court may later still have to consider what weight if any it should give to the evidence of ‘Witness M’

The case was again adjourned until Wednesday to allow lawyers time to prepare further legal argument, this time on whether the trial be aborted and McConville and his 20-year-old co-accused – John Paul Wootton from Collindale in Lurgan – be acquitted given the state, or lack of evidence.

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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