OMAGH TRIAL NEARS END
Omagh trial nears end
Verdict expected in six to eight weeks
AS THE Omagh Bomb trial neared its end this week, the lawyer for Sean Hoey, the man accused of the 1998 atrocity, claimed that it would be a travesty of justice if the 37-year-old from south Armagh was convicted.
In his final submission to Mr Justice Weir in the non-jury trial Orlando Pownall QC said: "The Crown's case has lurched from low-point to low-point as witnesses accepted they had lied and as one expert called by the prosecution undermined the evidence of another."
The Omagh case, which has been one of the longest trials in British legal history having heard from hundreds of witnesses at Belfast Crown Court, will close after Mr Pownall concludes his submission.
However, Mr Justice Weir is expected to take between six to eight weeks to decide on his verdict.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Pownall said the defence submitted that at each and every stage of the consideration process, the court 'will be unavoidably wracked by doubt'.
Those tasked with representing Sean Hoey, he said, had been gifted with material with which it would be impossible not to create real and enduring doubt.
"The prosecution case cannot survive the taint of the beefing up of evidence by witnesses and exhibits being interfered with," he said.
Insisting his client was innocent, Mr Pownall added: "Incontrovertible evidence showing that Sean Hoey was involved in Omagh has always been a mirage, an unobtainable goal."
Hoey from Jonesborough, denies a total of 56 terrorist charges, including the Omagh attack in which 29 people were killed and hundreds more injured. The prosecution case relied heavily on DNA and fibre evidence said to have been taken from bomb parts which Hoey is alleged to have made.
But Mr Pownall told Mr Justice Weir there had been demonstrable and wide-ranging shortcomings in the integrity of all the important exhibits in the case.
He said: "Unless the court is sure that the integrity of the DNA exhibits is unassailable and remains intact, the prosecution case must fail."
He added: "There is not an exhibit in the case upon which it is alleged DNA profiles matching Sean Hoey were found, in any meaningful sense, the integrity of which is beyond reproach."
The QC asked who at the outset of the case would have imagined the defence would be able to prove there had been significant interference with two exhibits relating to the bomb attacks in Newry and Lisburn.
"Who would have imagined that in respect of the third device at Altmore Forest the officer in the case would admit to lying?" he asked.
DNA was the single strand which was said to link the various devices -without it there was not a case at all, he insisted.
"We submit there has been no proper validation and furthermore that the profiles are unreliable as are the statistical evaluations provided."
He referred back to last week when it was revealed that that the Police Ombudsman was launching an inquiry into the conduct of two key Crown witnesses who had admitted altering their evidence.
The QC said emotion was no substitute for evidence and Hoey could be confident the court would be dispassionate and fair and would not allow itself to be unwittingly swayed by the clamour for a conviction.
Referring to the victims of those who died in Omagh, he said: "Even those who could be forgiven for being less than objective because the events of August 15, 1998 had a devastating effect on their lives could now dispassionately conclude that the man trumpeted is in truth responsible."
Verdict expected in six to eight weeks
AS THE Omagh Bomb trial neared its end this week, the lawyer for Sean Hoey, the man accused of the 1998 atrocity, claimed that it would be a travesty of justice if the 37-year-old from south Armagh was convicted.
In his final submission to Mr Justice Weir in the non-jury trial Orlando Pownall QC said: "The Crown's case has lurched from low-point to low-point as witnesses accepted they had lied and as one expert called by the prosecution undermined the evidence of another."
The Omagh case, which has been one of the longest trials in British legal history having heard from hundreds of witnesses at Belfast Crown Court, will close after Mr Pownall concludes his submission.
However, Mr Justice Weir is expected to take between six to eight weeks to decide on his verdict.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Pownall said the defence submitted that at each and every stage of the consideration process, the court 'will be unavoidably wracked by doubt'.
Those tasked with representing Sean Hoey, he said, had been gifted with material with which it would be impossible not to create real and enduring doubt.
"The prosecution case cannot survive the taint of the beefing up of evidence by witnesses and exhibits being interfered with," he said.
Insisting his client was innocent, Mr Pownall added: "Incontrovertible evidence showing that Sean Hoey was involved in Omagh has always been a mirage, an unobtainable goal."
Hoey from Jonesborough, denies a total of 56 terrorist charges, including the Omagh attack in which 29 people were killed and hundreds more injured. The prosecution case relied heavily on DNA and fibre evidence said to have been taken from bomb parts which Hoey is alleged to have made.
But Mr Pownall told Mr Justice Weir there had been demonstrable and wide-ranging shortcomings in the integrity of all the important exhibits in the case.
He said: "Unless the court is sure that the integrity of the DNA exhibits is unassailable and remains intact, the prosecution case must fail."
He added: "There is not an exhibit in the case upon which it is alleged DNA profiles matching Sean Hoey were found, in any meaningful sense, the integrity of which is beyond reproach."
The QC asked who at the outset of the case would have imagined the defence would be able to prove there had been significant interference with two exhibits relating to the bomb attacks in Newry and Lisburn.
"Who would have imagined that in respect of the third device at Altmore Forest the officer in the case would admit to lying?" he asked.
DNA was the single strand which was said to link the various devices -without it there was not a case at all, he insisted.
"We submit there has been no proper validation and furthermore that the profiles are unreliable as are the statistical evaluations provided."
He referred back to last week when it was revealed that that the Police Ombudsman was launching an inquiry into the conduct of two key Crown witnesses who had admitted altering their evidence.
The QC said emotion was no substitute for evidence and Hoey could be confident the court would be dispassionate and fair and would not allow itself to be unwittingly swayed by the clamour for a conviction.
Referring to the victims of those who died in Omagh, he said: "Even those who could be forgiven for being less than objective because the events of August 15, 1998 had a devastating effect on their lives could now dispassionately conclude that the man trumpeted is in truth responsible."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1869
Published Date: 18-Jan-07
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