A DECISION against a retrial of Michael Furlong for the murder of Patrick Connors (37) in 2011 has been upheld by the Court of Appeal. The case had initially collapsed over disputed pathology evidence by Dr Khalid Jaber.
Furlong, of The Moyne, Enniscorthy, was initially put on trial for the murder of Mr Connors at the Carraig Tur apartment complex in between April 28 and 29, 2011. Mr Connors was found lying in the communal stairwell of the apartment building where he had lived at number 6. A post-mortem examination, carried out by Dr Jaber, found that he had sustained a number of injuries including two significant scalp wounds and bi-lateral jaw fractures. Furlong vehemently denied the murder of Connors, who he regarded as a good friend.
In November 2013, the jury in the case was discharged and it was put into a list to fix dates for a possible retrial. The Director of Public Prosecution’s application for a discharge of the jury followed a letter written by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy after she happened to see Dr Jaber giving evidence in the trial. In the letter, she expressed concern to the DPP about that evidence and Dr Jaber resigned as Deputy State Pathologist in 2013 following a falling out with Prof Cassidy.
Arising out of Prof Cassidy’s intervention, the DPP obtained a report from a UK forensic pathologist which it was proposed to put into evidence in a retrial. Mr Furlong’s lawyers immediately brought High Court proceedings seeking to prevent the retrial and in the finding against the DPP, the High Court said that among Prof Cassidy’s criticisms of Dr Jaber’s evidence was that his report in the Furlong case should have been peer reviewed by others in the state pathology office, as was normal practice. The DPP appealed this decision and, last week, a three-judge appeal court upheld the decision.
The defence in the case, which consisted of Michael Delaney Senior Counsel, barrister James Browne and the offices of Frizelle, O’Leary & Co, had always maintained that Connors’ death had been accidental and was more a result of a fall as a result of the amount of alcohol he had consumed on the night and the fact that he lay outside in the cold for some time before he body was sadly discovered.
In a statement, Michael Furlong said: “While I am very relieved that the Court of Appeal has decided that the case against me should not proceed, I am still very sad about the death of my good friend Patrick Connors.”
Mr Connors’ mother, Elizabeth, had previously stated that she felt “let down” by the Justice System when the High Court Ruling against a re-trial was initially handed down. “I feel very let down,” she said. “There are two kids left without a father and I’m left without a son. I thought we were going to get some justice, so at least we would have had something to think about, but we’ll never get over it at all now.”
Michael Furlong arriving at Bagenalstown Courthouse in 2013 Photo: Jim Campbell.