Kenneth Collopy when he was arrested shortly after the murder of Daniel Fitzgerald
A CONVICTED Limerick killer, who asked the three judge court of appeal to overturn his murder conviction because he claimed the judge who sentenced him made a mistake by allowing video evidence to be played at his trial, has had his appeal dismissed this Thursday morning.
Kenneth Collopy, of Kilonan, Ballysimon, Limerick was 20 years old when he was jailed for life for murdering 25-year-old Daniel Fitzgerald outside his uncle’s mobile home in Ballysimon on December 8, 2009.
His murder trial heard harrowing evidence of the attack which claimed the life of the young carpenter who was shot in the head and the leg.
At the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, together with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice Alan Mahon were asked to consider that the presiding judge at the murder trial, Mr Justice Barry White, erred in law in his charge and instruction to the jury.
The three judge court were also to consider as a ground of appeal that video taped witness statements should not have been admitted.
David Bussoli, a passenger in the car that Collopy drove on the night of the shooting, told the trial that he couldn’t remember anything of the incident.
A recording of his interview with gardai was played for the jury.
Bussoli was seen telling gardaí he saw Collopy shoot someone, before speeding off in a car, then burning his clothes and giving him instructions to break his phone.
“Kenneth drove up to the caravan site, he turned the car around and I was told to pull back my seat and roll down the window. Next I see a person coming towards the car, then I see a gun coming across my face,” Mr Bussoli said in the tape.
The admissibility of this evidence had been argued and Collopy’s lawyers said that the judge erred in law in allowing it to be played to the jury.
Up to 17 shots were fired from a Glock handgun and given the random nature of the shots, manslaughter should have been considered in the verdict, they also argued.
His legal team said that Collopy had only intended to fire at the Fitzgeralds’ home after he had been mistakenly led to believe that a member of the family was responsible for an arson attack on his mother’s van.
The grounds of appeal, which ran to several chapters citing case law and supporting evidence, was moved by lawyers for the 27-year-old who is serving a life sentence after his at the Central Criminal Court in March 2011.
During the two-week trial, Christopher Mulqueen and Jason O’Donoghue from St Mary’s Park told the jury that they were in the car when Collopy demanded to be taken to the Fitzgerald’s yard.
O’Donoghue said “He was swearing into my ear, ‘On Phillip’s grave, I’ll blow your head off, I’ll blow your head off'”.
Christopher Mulqueen, who was the back seat passenger in the Toyota Corolla, told the jury that he saw the victim being gunned down and identified Kenneth Collopy as the shooter.
The green Corolla, with the seat reclined and spent cartridges in the footwell, was found at Collopy’s home shortly after the shooting and Gardaí also recovered the remnants of burnt clothing and a Glock handgun.
When Collopy was found guilty after just two hours of deliberations, his mother and sister left the courtroom proclaiming “Love you Kenneth, love you no matter what”.
Outside the Dublin court, Daniel Fitzgerald’s father Noel spoke of the relief when his son’s name was cleared of any criminal involvement as he was only “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
A loyal and trustworthy person with no criminal involvement, Daniel Fitzgerald was only 25 years old when his life was “silenced” on his way home to feed the family pets when he was shot dead, his father said.
Mr Fitzgerald said his family had found the trial very harrowing as it was the first time they had heard the details of how Daniel had died.
He said that it was particularly difficult when the handgun that killed his son was produced in court.
The Appeal Court judges dismissed Kenneth Collopy’s appeal on all grounds and the murder conviction and mandatory life sentence are to stand.
