A man has been sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment at the Special Criminal Court for perverting the course of justice during the investigation into a 2013 murder. Ray Kennedy, aged 40, was found guilty of destroying a mobile phone SIM card on the day Peter Butterly was fatally shot in a car park at Gormanston, County Meath. Kennedy had arranged to meet Butterly the previous day and arrived at the scene shortly after the killing. Gardaí had requested he remain for interview, but while waiting, he removed and disposed of the SIM card, which prosecutors described as evidentially significant. Justice Tony Hunt imposed a four-year headline sentence but suspended two and a half years on humanitarian grounds, citing Kennedy's daughter's serious health condition. The judge rejected Kennedy's account that he had panicked, finding instead that his actions were calculated. Kennedy must enter a good behaviour bond of one hundred euros for two and a half years following release.
Man who arranged to meet dissident at murder scene is jailed
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Source: Courts News Ireland
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