Convicted rapist found guilty of making death threats to barristers who prosecuted him

Convicted rapist found guilty of making death threats to barristers who prosecuted him

A convicted rapist has been found guilty of making death threats to the barristers who prosecuted him and harassing others involved in his 2013 trial, including his victim.

Michael Murray, 50, had pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill Dominic McGinn SC and his colleague Tony McGillicuddy BL.

He also denied harassing the woman he is convicted of raping by posting her name and phone number online in an ad offering her as a prostitute, and doing the same to Mr McGinn and his own defence solicitor.

Following a 15-day trial at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, a jury of eight men and four women took one hour and 13 minutes yesterday to reach unanimous verdicts in respect of both charges of making threats to kill and the three charges of harassment.

Mr McGinn described waking in the middle of the night on 6 November 2014, to receive a “devastating” phone call, telling Seán Gillane SC, prosecuting: “I answered it without really thinking about it. A male voice said ‘bang bang’.”

The following February, his colleague Mr McGillicuddy was working late when he too got a call from a blocked number. “You prosecuted a man that we know, you and Dominic McGinn, and I am telling you we are going to kill you,” a voice said.

Mr McGinn, along with Murray’s defence solicitor in the 2013 trial, and the woman he was convicted of raping, received calls and texts from unknown numbers in January and February of 2015, the court heard.

Murray’s former defence solicitor told the court that after one of the callers mentioned an ad, she did a Google search for her own name and number and found “very upsetting” ads “with both pieces of information”.

Murray was excluded from the courtroom for the final two days of his trial, after claiming he had been “offered the names and addresses of the jury members”.

The jury returned with guilty verdicts on the five contested counts on the indictment shortly after 5pm yesterday evening.

Murray had already pleaded guilty to having a mobile phone in custody – a phone given to him by his former solicitor, Joanne Kangley.

Judge Karen O’Connor remanded Murray in custody and adjourned the matter for sentencing on Thursday 29 July.

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