A jury has found James “Chuck” Connors guilty of the murder of Wexford man Jason Ryan.
Connors (29), of Drinagh, County Wexford, was accused of stabbing Ryan (27) to death on 25 January 2012. He had pleaded not guilty.
Connors will now serve a mandatory life sentence.
During the trial, which began last month, the court heard that the two men became involved in an altercation outside Ryan’s apartment in Hollyville Heights in Wexford Town. When gardaí arrived, they found him lying on a couch with multiple puncture wounds to his torso. He was taken to Wexford General Hospital, where he died several hours later.
In his closing speech at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, prosecution counsel Gerard Clarke SC told the jury that Connors had murdered Ryan because the victim was in a relationship with the accused’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Hore. The prosecution argued that he had intentionally lured the deceased away from the CCTV cameras in Hollyville Heights before stabbing him five times with a kitchen knife.
According to defence counsel Michael Delaney SC, Ryan was the aggressor and Connors was acting in self-defence. During his summary, Delaney told the jury that Ryan had attacked Connors with a metal-studded baton and that his client had fought back using a knife taken from the waistband of Ryan’s trousers.
Clarke denied Connors’ claims that Ryan had brought the knife to the scene. He argued that the accused brought the knife to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment intending to inflict injury on Ryan. Clarke also pointed to evidence from Dr Stephen Clifford, which showed that the knife contained DNA from Ms Mary Connors on the handle. The accused had spent the previous day at Connors’ house, the prosecution told the jury.
Clarke said: “Mary Connors’s DNA, we say, should convince you that the knife came from her house. How else would her DNA get on the knife? We say that Chuck Connors brought that knife with him.”
In response, Delaney questioned how the accused could have carried the knife over the course of the evening without anyone seeing it. He also pointed out that Connors’ DNA was not found on the knife, saying this was consistent with short-term contact.
During her charge to the jury, Justice Margaret Heneghan said they had a choice between three verdicts: guilty of murder, not guilty, or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. She also said the jury must consider the defence’s case that Connors was defending himself. Heneghan told the five women and seven men that they must return a not guilty verdict if they believed Connors was acting in self-defence and had used reasonable force.
Today, Connors was found guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to two. Heneghan sentenced him to life in prison.