Supreme Court urged to direct Patrick Quirke retrial over Mr Moonlight DJ murder
THE Supreme Court has been urged to direct a retrial of Patrick Quirke for the charge of murder of part-time DJ Bobby Ryan.
Lawyers for Quirke told the seven-judge court that a trial is the “best place” to resolve issues arising from its March ruling that a computer was unlawfully seized from the Tipperary farmer’s home by gardai.
Following submissions today, the Chief Justice Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell said the court will give its judgment later on the consequences flowing from the earlier findings.
The Supreme Court declared in March that the search of the computer, as a “portal into the digital world”, was unlawful.
The judgment marked a win for Quirke, 53, in his bid to overturn his 2019 conviction for the murder of his alleged love rival.
Quirke denied the murder charge.
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His 13-week trial at the Central Criminal Court was the longest murder trial in the history of the State.
Quirke’s trial was told the computer was used for internet searches on the rate of decomposition of human remains and the limitations of forensic DNA.
On Tuesday, Quirke’s senior counsel, Bernard Condon, said his client wants a trial judge to conduct an inquiry into whether the computer evidence may be admissible.
The Supreme Court cannot fall back on “mere inadvertence” on the part of the gardaí who applied for the warrant to search Quirke’s home.
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They knew they wanted to search Quirke’s computer but did not say that in the application to the issuing District Court judge, he said.
Meanwhile, Seán Guerin SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, argued the Supreme Court should decide that the computer evidence was admissible.
Quirke pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan, a part-time DJ going by the name of ‘Mr Moonlight’.
Quirke was arrested after Mr Ryan’s remains were found in a disused underground tank on a farm at Fawnagowan, owned by Mary Lowry on April 30, 2013, almost two years after he went missing.
Mr Ryan had been in a relationship with Ms Lowry and was last seen alive as he left her home early on June 3, 2011.