A dispute over the legality of the detention of two men alleged to have murdered dissident republican Peter Butterly continued today at the Special Criminal Court.
The 35 year-old was shot dead outside The Huntsman Inn, Gormanstown, Co Meath on March 6, 2013.
Edward McGrath (aged 35), of Land Dale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght and Sharif Kelly (aged 46), of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan have pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder.
Mr McGrath has also pleaded not guilty to firearms offences on the same occasion.
A third accused, Dean Evans (aged 24), of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, Dublin, failed to turn up for the trial, and has not been located by the gardaí.
The non-jury court decided to proceed with his two co-accused in Mr Evans’s absence.
The court has been listening to submissions from defence and prosecution counsels during a voir dire, or “trial within a trial”, to resolve a dispute over the legality of the accused men’s arrest.
Previously, the court has heard that the men were detained on the side of the road by members of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU).
Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, for Mr Kelly, and Paul Greene SC, for Mr McGrath, have argued that the men were unlawfully and unconstitutionally detained.
There was an “unacceptable delay”, the barristers have told the court, from when the men were detained by NSU members to when they were formally arrested.
They have also said that there is doubt as to whether or not Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act was invoked.
Today, prosecuting counsel Alex Owens SC replied to the defence barristers’ submissions.
He referred to the evidence of Garda Damien Broughall, who previously told the court that he arrested Mr Evans on the side of a Meath road, after following the car he was told had just been used in the shooting of Mr Butterly.
Mr Owens said that the evidence of Gda Broughall and other gardaí, plus CCTV footage, shows that both Mr Kelly and Mr McGrath understood the reason why they were stopped and that there was no other explanation of the events.
He said that the accused men were given the reasons for their arrest in adequate time.
Regarding Section 30, Mr Owens said that the witnesses who told the court it was invoked were reliable and that there was “no reason to disbelieve them on that point”.
It is the second trial of Mr McGrath and Mr Kelly. The original trial collapsed after 55 days in January, 2015, and a retrial was ordered.
The trial resumes on Monday before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge John O’Hagan and Judge Anne Ryan.
