Stephen Silver, who murdered Gda Colm Horkan by shooting him eleven times with the garda's service gun, has been jailed for life with a minimum time to be served of 40 years by a judge at the Central Criminal Court.
Gda Horkan's family and friends packed out the courtroom at the Criminal Courts of Justice building on Wednesday morning to hear the sentence being passed down. In statements read out to the court, Gda Horkan's family described him as a loving and thoughtful man who was their "go-to" person when they needed advice or help.
Ms Justice Tara Burns offered her condolences to the Horkan family who she said were visibly traumatised by the tragic circumstances that led to the death of the "heart and soul" of their family.
She also called on people suffering from mental health problems to recognise the importance of continuing their medical treatment in light of the evidence that Silver had stopped taking medication prescribed for his bipolar affective disorder when he shot Gda Horkan.
Judge Burns said things "could have been very different" if he had maintained his treatment regime.
Passing sentence, the judge said that she has no discretion given that the jury had returned a verdict that Silver is guilty of murdering a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty.
She sentenced him to life imprisonment and in accordance with the Criminal Justice Act 1990, she specified that he must serve a minimum of 40 years in prison.
Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughaward, Foxford, Co Mayo, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Garda Horkan (49) knowing or being reckless as to whether he was a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty.
He had pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Castlerea, Co Roscommon on June 17th, 2020, and the jury were told the main issue in the trial was Mr Silver’s state of mind at the time of the shooting.
After two trials at the Central Criminal Court a jury found Stephen Silver guilty of capital murder last month. His first trial ended last November with a jury disagreement.
The trials heard that Gda Horkan was a well-regarded member of the force with 25 years’ service and no disciplinary issues on his record. The prosecution told the jury that Gda Horkan had no idea when he signed out his firearm on the afternoon of June 17th, 2020, that he would be shot dead with the same gun just nine hours later.
They maintained Silver had a "seething resentment" toward gardaí and that the shooting of Gda Horkan was “a deliberate action done with the intent of murder".
During the trial, the jury heard evidence from Silver that he believed Gda Horkan was “a heavy down from Dublin” who was trying to kill him. He said that Gda Horkan, who was not in uniform and drove an unmarked car, was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and “didn’t come across” as a garda. He gave evidence that a struggle ensued between them before he fell to the ground, and in the process of getting up he felt the gun on Gda Horkan’s hip.
“He had his hand on the gun and I had my hand on the gun and we wrestled. The gun came out; I couldn’t tell you who took it out,” said Silver.
He said that he felt Gda Horkan “was trying to kill me”.
“I kept shooting until the gun finished and there was no ammunition left,” Silver said.
Silver's defence at the second trial was that he could be found guilty of manslaughter either because he believed he was acting in self defence but used excessive force or because his responsibility was significantly diminished due to a mental disorder.
The jury rejected both defences and found him guilty of murdering Gda Horkan, a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1990, the judge must impose the ordinary life sentence for murder and specify that Silver serve a minimum of 40 years in prison. With ordinary remission for good behaviour, Silver will be eligible to apply for parole after he has served 30 years.
Having gone into custody in June 2020, he will be aged 74 when he can first be considered for release by a parole board.
The jury heard evidence from Dr Brenda Wright, interim clinical director at the Central Mental Hospital, who said it was her view that Silver’s bipolar affective mental disorder at the time he killed Gda Horkan was such that it impaired his thinking and his judgement and therefore contributed significantly to his actions at that time.
However, consultant psychiatrist Professor Harry Kennedy disagreed and told the jury that he found “no positive evidence” that Silver had suffered a relapse of his mental disorder at the time he shot dead Gda Horkan.
Professor Kennedy's opinion was that Silver's behaviour was explained by his personality and that his increasingly aggressive and bizarre behaviour while in garda custody was due to a "learned impunity" whereby he expected to be treated as a psychiatric patient rather than held for questioning.
In the closing statement for the prosecution, Michael Delaney SC said that it had been established beyond reasonable doubt that Silver knew Gda Horkan was a garda acting in the course of his duty, and in taking the gun he attempted to kill or cause serious injury.
Addressing the claim that Silver may have thought he was acting in self-defence, prosecution counsel Michael Delaney told the jury: “He fired until the gun was empty. If there had been more bullets in the gun, would he have kept firing? How many bullets until he felt safe in his own mind?”
In the closing statement for the defence, Dominic McGinn SC said the shooting of Gda Horkan was “not a rational act” and there was no rational basis or motivation for what happened.
“Shooting a garda – that’s not intact social function,” he said, adding the natural conclusion from this was that Silver was in a relapse of his bipolar affective disorder at the time.
