THE TRIAL OF convicted terrorist Damien Joseph McLaughlin over his alleged involvement in the dissident republican murder of prison officer David Black collapsed today.
The end of the non-jury, judge only, case came with the prosecution acknowledgement they won’t contest the ruling to exclude the hearsay evidence of their ‘sole .. decisive’ witness taken from a dozen Garda-conducted interviews littered with ‘profane’ language.
Prosecution QC Terence Mooney told Mr Justice Colton that after giving “earnest consideration” of his judgement, he was not seeking leave either from him or the Court of Appeal to challenge his ruling.
And “as a consequence we (prosecution) would not be offering any further evidence” against McLaughlin.
Mr Justice Colton said that “it seems in those circumstances that I am compelled to direct not guilty verdicts on each of the counts”.
Listening in the wings of Belfast’s No 12 Crown Court was the widow of 52-year-old Mr Black, Yvonne, and his son Kyle, one of his two children, together with other family members and friends.
In all 41-year-old McLaughlin from Kilmascally Road near Ardboe in Tyrone, was cleared of the six terror charges he denied, including aiding and abetting, in the Irish Republic, the 1 November 2012 murder, possessing the Toyota Camry car used by the gunmen in the M1 drive-by shooting, and IRA membership.
On Tuesday Mr Justice Colton, in a highly legalised ruling, rejected a prosecution application to have the Garda interviews of Co Leitrim man Stephen Brady, the central plank of their case, accepted as hearsay evidence.
Although the dozen tapes were played during the five week hearing, which first heard evidence in early April, Mr Justice Colton, declared that “in the interests of justice” the evidence couldn’t form part of the trial, but even if it had, given it was “so unconvincing …. I would acquit (McLaughlin) on the grounds his conviction … would be unsafe”.
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