Kevin Lunney kidnappers lose conviction appeals

The Court of Appeal has dismissed conviction appeals brought by three men imprisoned for the September 2019 kidnapping and assault of Kevin Lunney, director of Quinn Industrial Holdings. Alan Harte, Alan O'Brien, and Darren Redmond, all from East Wall in Dublin, challenged their December 2022 convictions for false imprisonment and intentionally causing serious harm following an incident at Ballinagh, County Cavan. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with two colleagues, rejected all grounds of appeal. The appellants had contested the admissibility of DNA evidence recovered from a van used during the offence, phone records obtained through garda warrant, and CCTV footage. The court found no error in the trial court's earlier rulings on these evidential matters, determining that the Special Criminal Court had properly admitted all challenged material. Harte was originally sentenced to thirty years imprisonment, O'Brien to twenty-five years, and Redmond to eighteen years with the final three suspended. All three have confirmed their intention to pursue further appeals against sentence length, with case management scheduled for February 13th. The kidnapping occurred near Mr Lunney's home in County Fermanagh, with the assault taking place at a location in County Cavan. During the incident, Mr Lunney was forcibly detained, beaten, and subjected to various forms of torture. At trial, the Special Criminal Court accepted his evidence as reliable. A fourth defendant was acquitted of the charges. The dismissal of the conviction appeals follows a lengthy appellate process that began in December 2024. Defence counsel had argued that certain evidence gathering procedures breached legal requirements and that witnesses had not taken fresh oaths during trial proceedings regarding phone records and CCTV material. The State had maintained that conviction rested on sound circumstantial evidence properly assessed in its totality.