THE EIGHT CHILDREN of a businessman who was shot in cold blood and died after being in a coma for over a year now “have to live without daddy”, the Special Criminal Court has heard.
The non-jury court today heard a victim impact statement made on behalf the family of Barry Wolverson before it jailed two career criminals for life for his murder.
The murder trial heard that the victim (40) was a businessman who rented space at Madigan’s Yard in Swords in north Dublin. At the time of his shooting, his partner was expecting a child.
The deceased and another man, Gerard Wildman, were sitting in a car at the yard shortly before midday when Wolverson was shot “several times”. He eventually died from cardiac arrest after being treated in a residential care facility while in a comatose state for 13 months.
The two men, Robert Redmond (34) of Streamville Road, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5, and Bernard Fogarty (34), with an address at Cromcastle Court, Kilmore, Coolock, Dublin 5, both denied the murder at Madigan’s Yard, Kileek Lane, Swords, Co Dublin, at around midday on 17 January, 2020.
Today at the Special Criminal Court, the victim’s only sister read a victim impact statement on behalf of the Wolverson family to the court, in which she said they will grieve her brother’s murder forever and that their lives had also “changed forever”.
Lindsay Wolverson told the court that, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they were unable to visit Barry while he was in hospital.
She said that not being able to visit caused “fear and anxiety” for the family and that when he passed away on 21 February, 2021, his family’s hearts were broken.
Ms Wolverson said that at the time of the deceased’s shooting his partner was expecting a child, whom he never saw. He also has four children and three step-children.
She said that all of these children now “have to live without daddy”.
She said that her brother “loved and adored” his children and that he always put family first. She added he was the “one person” the family turned to and that he was a young man with a young family whose life was “unnecessarily stolen”.
Ms Wolverson said she and her family would “grieve forever” and that even though they would try to heal, they would “never be whole again, never be the same again”.
Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said the murder was “cold-blooded” and the court noted that Mr Wolverson never got to see his youngest son, who was born after his shooting.
The judge said the murder caused the Wolverson family “great distress and loneliness”. He said the family showed “great dignity and courage throughout the trial”.
Mr Justice MacGrath said he would sentence both men to life imprisonment for the murder and sentenced them to 12 years in jail for the possession of the gun and ammunition on the day.
The judge also sentenced both men to five years each for the assault causing harm to Gerard Wildman on the same date. All sentences are to run concurrently. Mr Justice MacGrath said there were no exceptional or mitigating circumstances available to either man when their “considerable” previous convictions were taken into account.
The two men had originally been charged before the non-jury court in April of last year with attempted murder.
Today, Detective Garda Sergeant Ian Brunton told Madeleine Grant BL, for the prosecution, that Redmond had 93 previous convictions at the time of the shooting. He said 86 of these were dealt with at District Court level and involved thefts, public order offences, road traffic infractions, possession of a mobile phone in prison and possession of drugs.
Det Sgt Brunton said Redmond had four criminal damage convictions along with convictions for possession of drugs for sale or supply and blackmail extortion.
Det Sgt Brunton told Ms Grant that Fogarty had 46 previous convictions, which included assault, criminal damage, possession of firearms, possession of drugs for sale or supply, burglary and road traffic offences. Det Sgt Brunton added that Fogarty was on bail at the time of the shooting.
Redmond could only be known as “AB” during the trial as he had other matters pending before the courts that have since been dealt with.
Both men were also found guilty of assault causing harm to Gerard Wildman, who was also shot, at Madigan’s Yard on the same date.
Wildman, who was shot in the lower back, refused to make a statement to gardaí in the matter.
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