Gangland killer argues court was wrong to dismiss eyewitness evidence of gunman height
Ryan Dunne
A gangland gunman convicted of murdering dissident Republican Michael Barr in a Dublin pub in 2016 has argued that the trial court was wrong to dismiss the evidence of a witness concerning the height of the man who pulled the trigger.
Counsel for David Hunter (46) also argued that Hunter's privacy rights had been breached by the introduction of mobile phone evidence during his trial, in which he was found guilty by the Special Criminal Court in September 2020.
Liverpool native Hunter, with an address at Du Cane Road, White City, London, had denied the Kinahan Cartel murder of 35-year-old Michael Barr at the Sunset House pub in Dublin's north inner city on the night of April 25th, 2016.
At his trial before the non-jury, three-judge Special Criminal Court, Mr Justice Alexander Owens, presiding, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh, said that the evidence had been heard in a "compelling way" that Hunter was one of the two gunmen who entered the Summerhill pub and murdered Mr Barr by shooting him.
Hunter's involvement in the murder had been "fully proved" and the court was "sure of his guilt", remarked Mr Justice Owens.
The judge noted that the murderers had failed to burn out the getaway car, which had been abandoned at Walsh Road in Drumcondra a few minutes after the killing, and they had also dropped a burner phone at the getaway scene.
He said the major part of a DNA profile taken from a ski mask recovered from the car during the investigation into the shooting of Mr Barr matched the profile of Hunter.
In a voluntary statement to gardaí, Hunter said that the ski mask was his but that he had dropped it in a car driven by another man when he visited Ireland two months before the murder on a car-stealing exercise. Hunter also claimed he had used the mask on various ski trips with his children to Norway, , Spain, Scotland, Austria and Switzerland.
Mr Justice Owens said that the circumstantial evidence in the case "pointed inextricably" to Hunter's guilt and the facts taken together had established the father-of-five's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and no other rational explanation could be drawn.
At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, Hunter’s legal team argued that the trial court erred in rejecting the evidence of witnesses present in the Sunset House that said there was a difference in height between the two assailants who entered the pub and killed Mr Barr.
Michael Bowman SC said that the trial court had set out that Hunter was being convicted because someone dropped a mobile phone at the scene and the car used by the gunmen failed to burn out, meaning that latex masks were not destroyed by the fire.
Counsel said that a witness in the pub was very clear in the physical description he gave, identifying a distinction in height between the two men. This witness had said the gunman was wearing a ski mask under a latex mask, but Mr Bowman said the trial court had refused to acknowledge what the witness had seen. He said that this witness identified the gunman as being six feet one or two, while Hunter is five feet ten.
Concerning the ski mask from which a DNA profile of Hunter was obtained, Mr Bowman said that in February 2016, Hunter “on the spur of the moment” came to Ireland for a two-day period to steal cars, bringing the ski mask with him for this purpose.
“It’s a very careless criminal who would leave his ski mask behind in a car that was stolen,” remarked Mr Justice John Edwards.
Mr Bowman said that the ski mask was correctly observed by the witness in the pub, adding that Hunter does not conform with the height of the assailant given, which meant that there was potentially another individual who wore that mask.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy remarked that this would make Hunter “a victim of coincidence” if he had left the mask in a car six weeks before, only for it then to turn up in a car used in a murder.
“Life is a series of unfortunate coincidences,” said Mr Bowman.
Hunter’s legal team also raised a ground of appeal concerning the mobile phones in the case, arguing that even if the appellant accepted or refused ownership of one of the phones, he was entitled to challenge the phone evidence on the basis of a breach of his privacy rights.
It was submitted that the trial court erred in finding that the mere fact that the material in question may pertain to criminal activity meant it could not attract privacy rights.
On behalf of the State, Dominic McGinn SC said that at the time of the trial, only two of those involved in the shooting were apprehended, while a third man had not been identified. He said that Hunter and co-accused Eamonn Cumberton were of the same height.
Mr McGinn said that of the latex masks found in the car, each had a dominant DNA profile, with one that matched Hunter, one that matched Cumberton, and the last that matched the third man involved, Christopher Slator.
He said that each DNA profile from these masks was paired to different items in the car, with Hunter’s profile also found on the ski mask.
“The possibility that perhaps someone else picked it up and put it on, that would have required them to leave none of their profile on it,” said Mr McGinn.
Concerning the issibility of the phone evidence, Mr McGinn said there had been a vast change in the legal position concerning mobile phone data since then, but the investigation team could not be faulted for using the legislation at the time to get the information required.
Mr Justice Edwards said the court would reserve judgement in the case.
Hunter is one of three men to be found guilty of murdering dissident republican Michael Barr. In January 2018, Eamonn Cumberton, of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, was convicted of murdering the Tyrone native, while in July 2022, Christopher Slator, of Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, was also convicted.
