At the Special Criminal Court, a trial concerning two men charged with membership of an unlawful organisation has entered legal argument over mobile phone data retention. Laurence Murphy, aged 62, from Bettystown, County Meath, and Ray Kennedy, aged 39, from Blanchardstown, Dublin, have both pleaded not guilty to the membership charge. Kennedy faces an additional charge of perverting the course of justice by destroying a mobile telephone SIM card on 6 March 2013. The trial centres on the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, with proceedings delayed pending a Supreme Court decision in December on a challenge to the legislation. The prosecution alleges the defendants were involved in the killing of dissident republican Peter Butterly, shot in a carpark in Gormanston, County Meath in March 2013. Four men have already received life sentences for the murder, with two others jailed for roles in the killing. The court heard of gatherings at McDonough Caravan Park in Bettystown and at Charlestown Shopping Centre allegedly connected to the incident.
IRA trial enters legal argument on "Dwyer" phone data point
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Source: Courts News Ireland
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