26/10/2010

Belfast Murder Tried In Dublin Court

The case of a murdered Belfast taxi driver was today being tried in a Dublin Court under a rarely used cross-border anti-terrorist law.

Gerard Mackin, 28, from the Whiterock area in west Belfast, has denied murdering 36-year-old father of five Edward Burns, a taxi driver from Prospect Park, Belfast, at Bog Meadow, Falls Road. The murder took place in Belfast on March 12, 2007.

Mr Mackin, who also has an address at Raheen Close, Tallaght, Dublin, also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Damien O'Neill, the possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and causing serious harm to Mr O'Neill on the same date.

Mr Mackin opted for trial in the Republic under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976. The act extends the criminal law of the State to certain crimes committed in Northern Ireland. It has only been invoked on four other occasions since it's introduction over 20 years ago.

Today's proceedings are a retrial of Mr Makin's conviction in 2008 after a retrial was ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

He was the first person convicted in a Dublin court for an alleged murder in Belfast.

(DW)

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