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The Irish Court of Appeal has dismissed architect Graham Dwyer\u2019s appeal against his conviction for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O\u2019Hara in 2012.<\/p>\n
Dwyer was convicted on March 27 2015 after a lengthy high-profile trial.<\/p>\n
He had launched an appeal on numerous grounds, including the admissibility of mobile phone data evidence.<\/p>\n
Last April, Dwyer won a case in Europe about the mobile data retention practices used in the case against him.<\/p>\n
Data held in the Cork-born architect\u2019s work phone was used in the trial to demonstrate how it placed the device at specific places at particular times and dates.<\/p>\n
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that EU law precludes the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data relating to electronic communication for the purpose of combating serious crime.<\/p>\n
Delivering the decision, president of the Court of Appeal George Birmingham said the court was quite satisfied the admission of very limited call data could not be perceived of arising to a miscarriage of justice in this case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no miscarriage of justice here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not been persuaded that the trial was unfair or that the verdict was unsafe, and we dismiss the appeal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham referred to the use in trial of the contents of 2,620 text messages and data retained by mobile phone companies for billing purposes in relation to five phones.<\/p>\n
There is no miscarriage of justice here<\/p>\n
George Birmingham, president of the Court of Appeal<\/p>\n
The phones included what was referred to as Dwyer\u2019s work phone, a phone attributed to Ms O\u2019Hara which was left in her apartment, an additional \u201cgreen phone\u201d which the prosecution sought to attribute to Dwyer, as well as a \u201cmaster phone\u201d and \u201cslave phone\u201d, which the prosecution said could be attributed to Dwyer and Ms O\u2019Hara respectively.<\/p>\n
The president said the defence\u2019s position was that the significance of data linking the phones was a central and integral part of the prosecution case.<\/p>\n
He said the Director of Public Prosecutions did not dispute that it played a part but said the part it played was relatively minor.<\/p>\n
He said the appellant\u2019s response was that to push the significance of that evidence to the margins was an attempt to \u201cunscramble the omelette that was the prosecution case\u201d.<\/p>\n
The evidence was also referred to as the \u201cicing on the cake\u201d.<\/p>\n
It must be concluded that the icing significantly enhanced the cake<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham said: \u201cIt must be concluded that the icing significantly enhanced the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the request from investigators for the phone data, he said Garda actions were in full compliance of provisions of an Act of the Oireachtas and \u201cenjoyed a presumption of constitutionality\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said while there was evidence from the parallel movements of phones at issue in the case, there was evidence of the same effect which was independent and \u201carguably more compelling\u201d.<\/p>\n
He outlined alternative routes of the identification of the suspect through \u201ctraditional detective work\u201d and other evidence.<\/p>\n
Outlining the background and personal circumstances of Ms O\u2019Hara, Mr Justice Birmingham noted she had experienced certain mental health difficulties since her teenage years.<\/p>\n
He also later referred to the \u201cvery unusual sexual relationship\u201d discussed in the case, which included acts of stabbing perpetrated on Ms O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n
Dwyer had also made appeals against what the defence believed to be prejudicial videos.<\/p>\n
Nine video clips were played in the trial showing Dwyer engaged in sexual intercourse with aspects of BDSM, three of which included Ms O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n
The defence argued it was \u201coverly powerful and likely to cause a reaction among jurors\u201d.<\/p>\n
A picture is worth a thousand words<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham<\/p>\n
There was also accompanying commentary from an investigator in the trial.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham said the judge believed that the probative effect of the evidence outweighed its prejudicial value.<\/p>\n
\u201cA picture is worth a thousand words,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the videos represented the best evidence available.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Birmingham said the user of one of the phones had arranged to meet Ms O\u2019Hara on August 22 2012 with the purpose of taking her up the mountains to be \u201cstabbed and or punished\u201d.<\/p>\n
She was last seen alive on that date.<\/p>\n
In the weeks before her disappearance, she had been admitted to hospital.<\/p>\n
It was the prosecution\u2019s case that with the ending of Ms O\u2019Hara\u2019s hospital admission, Dwyer began to put in a place a plan to use her for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification by stabbing a woman to death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emails The Irish Court of Appeal has dismissed architect Graham Dwyer\u2019s appeal against his conviction for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O\u2019Hara in 2012. Dwyer was convicted on March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n