Technological advancements in DNA analysis are not enough reason to re-examine evidence grounding a man’s conviction for the rape and murder of a Connemara schoolgirl 28 years ago, the State has argued.
Barristers for the State said John McDonagh (51) first launched an appeal in 2007 against his conviction for the rape and murder of Siobhan Hynes in 1998. At that point he made no application for retesting evidence in line with the science then available, the lawyers argued.
However, McDonagh’s legal team say testimony from a forensic expert shows there is a reasonable possibility a new result will be obtained from evidence retested in line with modern scientific methods.
McDonagh was 27 when he was convicted in 2001 by a Central Criminal Court jury of the rape and murder of Hynes (17), of Sconse, Lettermore, Connemara.
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Hynes had been found dead at Tismeain beach in the townland of Keeraunbeg in the early hours of December 6th, 1998.
McDonagh, formerly of The Demesne, Keeraunbeg, Carraroe, pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He is now seeking to establish his conviction was unsafe and that there has been a miscarriage of justice in his case.
He is seeking to have certain trial exhibits undergo forensic testing and examination, arguing that fibres on Hynes had “not received adequate attention”.
On the third day of the appeal earlier this week, a forensic expert for McDonagh, Clare Jarman, gave evidence that while DNA testing was useful at the time of the trial, it was “very much in its infancy”.
Jarman said modern technology is more sensitive, and current extraction methods are better able to clean samples and remove contaminants.
Dr Dorothy Ramsbottom, of Forensic Science Ireland, who prepared a report for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court the body had been touched by a number of people, and different anti-contamination procedures would have applied back then.
Senior counsel for the State, Paul Carroll, said the case was based on numerous strands.
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“It can’t be the case that advances in science alone justify a re-examination,” said Carroll, adding that any decision by the court to allow McDonagh’s application must be grounded on newly discovered evidence.
To this, Judge Nuala Butler said this was “the chicken and the egg”, as McDonagh could not produce new evidence without access to exhibits.
Carroll said there must be a threshold to establish why this should be done.
Senior counsel for McDonagh, Michael O’Higgins, said that if there is a reasonable prospect that retesting could produce something usable and credible, then retesting should be done.
O’Higgins said no DNA evidence was available at the time that would have supported the accused, but now other tests are available.
The three-judge court reserved its decision on the application for a later date.
In 2001, the trial heard Hynes had celebrated her 17th birthday a week before she was murdered.
She disappeared from Carraroe village at about 12.50am. She left a car parked outside a hotel to go to the toilet in a chip shop.
The trial heard she was raped by McDonagh, who then tried to choke her. After leaving her for dead, he drove his car back to Carraroe village and became involved in a fight.
The trial heard from Dr Louise McKenna, of the State Forensic Science Laboratory, that there were “numerous” fibres on McDonagh’s jumper that matched Hynes’s fleece jacket, jumper and socks.
Fibres from the fleece and jumper were found in a passenger seat of McDonagh’s car. Fibres from his red fluffy car-seat cover matched two fibres found on Hynes’s clothes, the court heard.
