Convicted drug dealer Brian Rattigan has won a Supreme Court appeal against his conviction for the murder of a 21-year-old man in Dublin.
In 2009, a jury found him guilty of murdering Declan Gavin outside a fast food restaurant in Crumlin Shopping Centre eight years beforehand.
His appeal was based on some comments made by the judge during his trial.
Our Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney reports:
Around this time eight years ago, a jury at the Central Criminal Court found Brian Rattigan guilty of murdering Declan Gavin and he was jailed for life.
His trial heard Mr. Gavin was in Abrakebabra in the Crumlin Shopping Centre in the early hours of Aug 25th 2001 when a Nissan Micra pulled up.
A girl walked towards the car and witnesses described words being exchanged between her and a man in the passenger seat.
Mr. Gavin walked out of the restaurant and somebody heard him being called a “rat” from someone inside the car.
The court heard he was then confronted by a man with a balaclava and a large knife. One witness said he pulled down the balaclava to reveal his face and said: “do you remember me?”
The 21-year-old was stabbed and ran back into the restaurant where he collapsed onto the floor. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
DNA taken from a bloody palm print on the outside window of Abrakebabra linked Rattigan to the killing.
He claimed he was with a married woman at the time but refused to reveal her identity when interviewed by Gardaí.
His appeal centred on closing comments made by the trial judge Mr. J George Birmingham to the jurors before they began their deliberations.
This morning, the Supreme Court found some of them went “further than were desirable”.
And in doing so, the court felt by a majority of three to two that there was a real possibility his comments may have been seen as reflecting his personal opinions and could have influenced the jury
The DPP will now have to decide whether or not there should be retrial.
Rattigan, who has an address at Cooley Road in Drimnagh in Dublin, was later convicted of organising a €1m drug deal from prison while he was serving the life sentence for murder.
