A MAN found guilty of conspiring to steal the getaway car used in a robbery in which Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead has had his conviction overturned.
The Court of Appeal found in favour of James Flynn, 34, who was caged for eight years.
They said the decision by the non-jury Special Criminal Court to amend the indictment against him after his three-month long trial finished — and without consulting either the prosecution or defence — was a breach of his right to constitutional natural justice.
Ms Justice Tara Burns, delivering the judgment today, described the amendment as a “very unusual occurrence” which had denied Mr Flynn the opportunity to make legal arguments over the amendment or to plead guilty to the new charge.
Mr Flynn’s lawyers had argued that the first they knew of the charge of conspiring to steal the getaway car was after their client had been convicted of it.
Mr Flynn, with an address in Ravensglen, Newry, Co Down was originally charged with a wider conspiracy to steal cars at various locations in the North East.
He was further charged with participation in a robbery of the Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25, 2013 in which Aaron Brady shot and killed Det Gda Donohoe.
The Special Criminal Court acquitted Flynn of those charges but amended the indictment to find him guilty of conspiring to steal the Volkswagen Passat from a property in Clogherhead, Co Louth in January 2013.
At the Court of Appeal last January, Bernard Condon SC, for Mr Flynn, argued that the decision to amend the indictment after the trial had finished and while the court was acting in its capacity as a jury was an error.
When the Special Criminal Court amended the indictment, Mr Condon said his client was convicted of a charge which was “never put to him” and on which he was “never given the opportunity to plead”.
He said: “At the level of fundamental fairness, it’s baffling to us why the court didn’t come out and say, ‘We’ve reached an impasse’.”
He added: “The first we heard that this offence was out there was after we had been convicted of it.”
RETRIAL HEARING
Having quashed Mr Flynn’s conviction, the Court of Appeal did not consider other arguments made by his lawyers during their appeal.
The court will hear from the parties in the case next Tuesday, March 18 as to whether Mr Flynn should face a retrial.
