The Director of Public Prosecutions v Braney

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Judge: Ms. Justice Isobel Kennedy
• Judgment Date: 19 June 2026
• Neutral Citation: [2026] IECA 182
• Docket Number: Record Number: 31/2019

Between/

The People at the Suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Respondent/

and

Kevin Braney.

Appellant

[2026] IECA 182

Kennedy J.

O'Moore J.

MacGrath J.

Record Number: 31/2019

THE COURT OF APPEAL

Conviction – Murder – Corroboration – Appellant appealing against conviction – Whether the requirement for a bifurcated approach to corroboration was applicable

Facts: The appellant, Mr Braney, appealed to the Court of Appeal against his conviction for the murder of Mr Butterly on 6 March 2013 contrary to common law and as provided by s. 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1964. It was the contention of the respondent, the Director of Public Prosecutions, that the murder involved a high level of premeditation and organisation involving several individuals with distinct and defined roles. The respondent’s case was that of joint enterprise, with reliance upon three strands of evidence: firstly, evidence which implicated Messrs Evans, McGrath, Cullen and Kelly in the actual commission of the murder; secondly, circumstantial evidence connecting Mr Braney to those parties and to other elements of the offence; and thirdly, the evidence of Mr Cullen as an accomplice turned state’s witness. The appellant originally nominated 51 grounds in his notice of appeal, however, several were abandoned at the hearing. The remaining grounds were grouped together under the following headings: (a) privilege and surveillance; (b) audio recordings; (c) the refusal of the court to exclude the evidence of Mr Cullen; (d) the refusal to grant a direction/withdraw the case from itself on PO’C grounds; (e) the motion to adduce new evidence; (f) the refusal of the court to adopt a bifurcated approach to corroboration; and (g) the judgment of the court.

Held by the Court that: (a) the Special Criminal Court considered each individual document and, in each case, concluded that a recognised privilege applied, and the ruling of the Special Criminal Court to the effect that the requirements of s. 7 of the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 were met was not one which the Court would upset; (b) even if the Court were to operate as counsel for the appellant asked it to and require a “minimal standard” of quality in the recording, it was impossible for it to come to a view that this standard had not been achieved; (c) the Court was not satisfied that an error of law or of principle had been identified in relation to the ruling of the court on admissibility; (d) the Court was not satisfied that it could be said that Mr Cullen’s evidence was so inconsistent in relation to the core events of the subject matter of the charge to render it, in the words of Charleton J in People (DPP) v Fitzgerald [2019] 3 IR 89, an exceptional or rare case which ought to have compelled the trial court to conclude that any consequent conviction would be unsafe and warranted the withdrawal of the case from the jury (in this case the members of the court sitting as a tribunal of fact), or its refusal of the application, as framed to withdraw the evidence of Mr Cullen from itself on PO’C grounds; (e) the Court disagreed that the note of the February 2019 meeting met the requirements of People (DPP) v Willoughby [2005] IECCA 4, as adopted by Kearns J in People (DPP) v O’Regan [2007] 3 IR 805; (f) the requirement for a bifurcated approach to corroboration was not applicable, as the Special Criminal Court has a dual role; and (g) the Court had not been persuaded that any of the grounds of appeal under this section had been made out.

The Court dismissed the appeal.

Appeal dismissed.

JUDGMENT of the Court delivered on the 19th day of June 2026 by Ms. Justice Isobel Kennedy.

1 This is an appeal against conviction for the murder of Mr. Peter Butterly (“the deceased”) on the 6th of March 2013, at The Huntsman Inn in Gormanston, Co. Meath.

2 The appellant's trial commenced before the Special Criminal Court on the 4th of October 2018 and concluded on the 13th of December 2018. On the 4th of February 2019, he was convicted of one count of murder contrary to common law and as provided by s.4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1964.

3 It was the respondent's contention that the murder involved a high level of premeditation and organisation involving several individuals with distinct and defined roles.

4 The respondent's case was that of joint enterprise, with reliance upon three strands of evidence: firstly, evidence which implicated Messrs. Dean Evans, Eddie McGrath, David Cullen and Sharif Kelly in the actual commission of the murder; secondly, circumstantial evidence connecting Mr. Kevin Braney to those parties and to other elements of the offence; and thirdly, the evidence of Mr. David Cullen as an accomplice turned state's witness.

Factual Background

5 The respondent's case was that the deceased was lured to the Huntsman Inn in Gormanston on the 6th of March 2013 via a phone call made by a Mr. Ray Kennedy, who arranged to meet him there at 14:00. At that location, he was shot by Dean Evans, who was transported to and from the scene of the shooting by Eddie McGrath in a silver Toyota Corolla (07KE7235), which had earlier departed from Bracken Wood in Balbriggan. David Cullen was responsible for the disposal of the murder weapon after it was thrown from the escaping Corolla driving along the Flemington Road, and Sharif Kelly was responsible for picking up Messrs. Evans and McGrath in an Opel Zafra (O3C5254), after they had disposed of their vehicle. The Garda National Surveillance Unit (“NSU”) had members of the group under observation and apprehended them in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, prior to their planned disposal of the Corolla.

6 The direct evidence implicating the above Messrs. Dean Evans, Eddie McGrath, David Cullen and Sharif Kelly, consisted of the eye-witness testimony from a number of individuals present at the scene prior to, during, and after the murder. These witnesses include members of the NSU who had the individuals under surveillance at the time of the murder, and civilian witnesses who happened to be present at the scene. The findings of the Special Criminal Court in relation to the direct evidence were not appealed, however, an aspect of the appeal is the assertion of privilege concerning members of the NSU, who retained anonymity at trial.

7 The circumstantial evidence against the appellant consists of various pieces of evidence spanning four days, some of which is uncontroversial and some of which is challenged in the within appeal.

8 The appellant was the registered owner of a black Volvo S40 (07D66171). On the 4th of March 2013, the appellant was observed by a member of the NSU driving this vehicle into the carpark of Charlestown Shopping Centre in Finglas at 16:56. The garda gave evidence that he then walked into a KFC restaurant with his passenger, Mr. McGrath. He was observed leaving the restaurant at 17:30 with Messrs. McGrath and Evans, as well as another individual, DC (who has not been charged with or convicted of any related crime), before driving off in the Volvo with the three men. At 18:15, another member of the gardaí observed the appellant's Volvo enter McDonald's caravan park in Bettystown County Meath. At 17:15, that same garda had observed a green Volvo S40 (07KE7772), registered to a Mr. Michael McDermott, enter the same caravan park. At 18:30, a red Toledo (02KK1790) belonging to a Mr. Lar Murphy was observed exiting the premises with three male occupants. Another member of the NSU later observed that Toledo drive to the Huntsman Inn, down Flemington Road and past Gormanston College, with three males on board, before returning to the caravan park at 19:00. The appellant's Volvo was observed driving into Bettystown at 19:50, followed by Mr. McDermott's Volvo, both from the direction of the caravan park, before being observed driving to the Bracken Wood area of Balbriggan.

9 On the 5th of March, the appellant was observed by an NSU member driving his Volvo with two passengers at 18:11 in Tallaght. At 18:36, he was observed sitting alone parked in a different location in Tallaght before driving northwards towards the M50. At 18:45, he was observed driving on the M50, and later at 19:30, his car was observed parked next to DC's Ford Transit Van in the McDonald's carpark in Gulliver's Retail Park in Ballymun. He was observed by an NSU member, and recorded on CCTV, inside the McDonald's sitting at a table with three other men, including DC, from approximately 18:57 to 19:57. The group left the McDonald's at that point, and drove off in a Toyota Corolla (07KE7235), DC's white Ford Transit Van, and the appellant's black Volvo. The appellant was observed driving his Volvo ahead of the Corolla, exiting the carpark onto the Ballymun Road turning towards the M50, with the transit van going the opposite direction. At 20:52, approximately 50 minutes after both vehicles had left the carpark, the Volvo and Corolla were observed parked in the carpark attached to David Cullen's Bracken Wood Avenue apartment. A green Opel Zafira (03C5254) was also observed parked in that carpark, as well as two or three men standing in the car park. The appellant's Volvo was then observed at 21:10 travelling northward out of Balbriggan, whereupon it was driven to the Huntsman Inn, down Flemington Road, and past Gormanston College.

10 On the 6th of March, Sharif Kelly was captured on CCTV footage in his Opel Zafira outside the Balbriggan Post Office with Michael McDermott at 12:58, after which Sharif Kelly was captured entering the post office, and leaving at 13:16.

11 Phone records establish calls between a phone registered to Michael McDermott and a phone recovered from David Cullen at 11:47, 12:20, 19:49, and 20:09 on the 4th of March. Records also establish a call made at 13:17 on the 6th of March from a phone recovered from David Cullen and a phone found in a search of Frank Murphy's caravan park...