The father of feud victim Michael Barr has slammed an upcoming appeal by his killer - as he says his son didn’t get a second chance.
The Star has learned that Kinahan cartel killer David Hunter is appealing his conviction for the feud murder of Michael Barr at the Sunset House pub in Dublin’s North Inner City on the night of April 25, 2016.
British car thief Hunter (43), who was one of the two gunmen who entered the pub on the night of Barr’s murder, is due to have his latest appeal hearing heard in October.
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And speaking exclusively to The Star, Colin Barr, the father of the victim, said Hunter’s paymasters at the top of the Kinahan cartel acted like judge and jury when they murdered his son - and he doesn’t get that second chance.
“No trial, no appeal. Just the three-man court of the Kinahans.
“It’s a pity him (Hunter) and his paymasters didn’t give their victims time to appeal the sentence they were given by the ‘Kinahan high court’ in Dubai,” he said.
Mr Barr recently saw further justice for his son when convicted drug dealer Christopher Slator became the fourth person to be convicted over the murder last week.
Slator was nailed after gardai uncovered his DNA on a mask and runner inside the getaway car which was found on fire a short distance from the murder scene.
Similarly his pal Eamon Cumberton was also nailed by a DNA profile on a separate similar mask and baseball cap - with this evidence securing his life sentence in prison.
But now Mr Barr’s family are facing further pain as Hunter is set to challenge his conviction before a three-judge Court of Appeal later this year.
The UK resident, who had an address at Du Cane Road, White City, London, was hired by the Kinahan cartel to carry out the killing in the midst of a bitter gangland feud with the Hutch gang.
The Kinahans mistakenly believed that well-known Republican Michael Barr may have had some role in the infamous murder of their associate David Byrne at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in Feburary of that year.
They then acted on that ill-judged belief by hiring a hit-team to take out Mr Barr in the middle of a busy Dublin pub.
During Hunter’s trial in 2020, the court found there was compelling evidence that he was one of the two gunmen involved in the shooting.
Mr Barr’s sister Noeleen said in her statement that her brother was “brutally taken” from his five children and wider family.
She said that after learning of Mr Barr’s death on social media she was “found in pieces” on the floor and described his death as a “nightmare” for the family and his children.
“How can you measure a life in drugs or money?” she asked.
Meanwhile Martin Aylmer (33), of Casino Park, Marino, Dublin 3, pleaded guilty to involvement in the hit, having admitted to buying six pre-paid mobile phones in the run-up to the murder.
The Special Criminal Court heard that one of the phones was found beside a burned-out car used as the getaway vehicle in Mr Barr’s murder.
Aylmer was captured on CCTV footage buying the phone in Dublin’s Ilac Shopping Centre two days before the shooting.
He told gardaí he believed the phones would be used for drug trafficking.
He pleaded guilty to participating in, or contributing to, activity intending to facilitate the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation or any of its members in what was believed to have been the first prosecution of its kind.
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