A West Clare man will continue serving out a life sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction for the murder of his neighbour.
Brendan O’Sullivan shot Leslie Kenny in the garden of his home at O’Gorman Street, Kilrush on July 29th, 2009.
At the nub of this appeal was the contention that the judge at Brendan O’Sullivan’s murder trial- Justice Patrick McCarthy didn’t properly explain to the jury when verdicts of manslaughter or self defence should be returned.
The 28 year old– who did not attend court today – was jailed for life in 2010 for killing 27 year old Leslie Kenny with a double barrelled shotgun.
The Kilrush father of two admitted shooting his neighbour at O’Gorman Street, Kilrush in July 2009 but said it was only to protect his family from threats and not to kill him
The court heard Leslie Kenny had 82 previous convictions and had made threats to slit the throats of Brendan O Sullivan’s daughters, shoot down his back door, and put petrol in his letterbox.
However today the Court of Criminal Appeal said – ‘the outstanding fact is that this was a case of an unarmed man being shot four times with a shotgun’.
It ruled that the directions given by the trial judge on these defences were adequate and that there was no miscarriage of justice
Brendan O’Sullivan will now continue to serve the life sentence handed down to him in the case.
