A British car thief has been jailed for life by the non-jury Special Criminal Court for the Kinahan Cartel murder of the manager of the Sunset House pub in Dublin.
Liverpool native David Hunter (42), with an address at Du Cane Road, White City, London, had denied the murder of 35-year-old Michael Barr at the Sunset House pub in Dublin's north inner city on the night of April 25th, 2016.
Barr was shot seven times after two armed men wearing boiler suits and full rubber masks entered the Sunset House pub at around 9pm. He was shot fives times in the head, once in the leg and once in the shoulder.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Barr's sister Noeleen said her brother's five children would have to live with the trauma of knowing how their father was gunned down in his place of work "on the orders of others who pay fools to murder human beings". She asked how a life could be "measured in drugs or money".
Hunter, who was characterised as a "two-bit car thief" by his own defence team, claimed he had come to Dublin to see a UB40 concert and for "one last fling" before he checked himself into a rehabilitation centre in Spain.
DNA from ski-mask
The court found there was compelling evidence that Hunter was one of the two gunmen who entered the Summerhill pub and murdered Barr by shooting him. DNA from a ski-mask recovered from the getaway car matched that of the defendant. Hunter admitted to owning the mask but the court rejected his story that he had dropped it when visiting Ireland two months before the murder on a car-stealing exercise.
Hunter is the second man to be found guilty of murdering dissident republican Barr. In January 2018, Eamon Cumberton (32), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, was also convicted of murdering the Tyrone native.
At today's sentencing hearing Detective Garda Colm Kelly told prosecution counsel, Mr Dominic McGinn SC, that Hunter has 15 previous convictions dating back to 1997 that include actual bodily harm, possession of a knife and dangerous driving.
Delivering sentence, Mr Justice Alexander Owens, presiding, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh, backdated Hunter's life-sentence to April 2019, when he was first arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in the UK.
Speaking outside court, Detective Superintendent Colm Murphy said that the shooting of Mr Barr was a "cold and callous" murder. He extended his sympathies to the Barr family and said that the garda investigation into the murder was ongoing.
This was a cold, callous murder conducted on an individual going about his business in the Sunset House
"I welcome today's conviction at the Special Criminal Court in relation to the murder of Michael Barr. This was a cold, callous murder conducted on an individual going about his business in the Sunset House.
"At this time, we remember Michaels 's family, his partner and his children. I want to make it clear today that this is an ongoing investigation and want to reassure the public that we will bring all those involved in this murder to justice. This is the third conviction in relation to this murder but the investigation remains ongoing.
"Gardaí are acutely aware of the impact that this has on communities and I want to assure the communities that we will do everything in our power to bring those involved to justice, said Det Supt Murphy.
