The sister of Michael Barr has demanded the Kinahan cartel bosses who ordered his murder be brought to justice – as one of his killers was jailed for life.
Ms Barr was speaking hours after Kinahan thug Christopher Slator became the third mobster to be given a life sentence for her brother’s murder in April 2016.
She said she had no feelings for the trio who carried out the attack but wanted the heads of the cartel led by Daniel Kinahan, 44, brought to book for the cold-blooded killing.
Ms Barr told the Irish Mirror: “I don’t feel anything for them and I don’t care if they rot in jail the rest of their lives.
“Hopefully soon the suspected drugs cartel who sanctioned Michael’s murder will be before the courts. And then we can all carry on with our lives.
“The boys who [were sentenced], I just call them puppets. Everyone knows the people who made that order, millionaires, billionaires.
“I’m not even angry at the f*****s who went in and shot him, I feel more angry about the Kinahans. I really want them brought to justice.”
An emotional Ms Barr also said her family will never get over the murder of Michael – gunned down by the cartel at the height of the Kinahan-Hutch feud, a war that has now left 18 men dead.
She added: “As a family, we’re just glad that this chapter has been closed.
“It has been a long six years. Every time someone appeared in court it brought back all the hurt and traumatised us. It was very hurtful for the family to know what Michael’s last minutes were.”
Violent criminal Slator, 37, yesterday became the third man convicted of Mr Barr’s murder after Ms Justice Tara Burns revealed the verdict of the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court.
A statement from Ms Barr read to the court described her brother as a devoted family man who was “decent, loving, charismatic and extremely witty”.
He was a gifted carpenter, an excellent cook, a charmer and a ladies’ man.
She described him as “irreplaceable” and wrote of the “heart-wrenching pain that we feel every day. Not a day goes by that we don’t think or speak about him”.
She said the cartel had taken his life and his future and “all we have left are the memories”.
Mr Barr’s partner Jade O’Shea also wrote a statement in which she said she was engaged to Mr Barr and had a daughter with him when he was murdered.
Their daughter, she said, is “constantly talking about daddy” but now they have to endure the future without him.
Slator’s supporters blew kisses at him and said “love you” as he was led to the cell area by prison officers.
Det Gda David Chapman told prosecution counsel Dominic McGinn SC that Slator has 59 previous convictions in Ireland and the UK including for possession of knives or offensive weapons, assault of a constable and possession of drugs for sale or supply.
During the trial, Slator’s lawyers argued that the prosecution had failed to prove there was no innocent explanation for how his DNA ended up on a mask and runners that were found in the back seat of the car used by Mr Barr’s murderers.
Ms Justice Tara Burns disagreed, saying the only rational explanation for the DNA evidence was that he was guilty of murder.
The court also found that Slator fled the jurisdiction the day after the shooting by booking flights to Dubai with Eamon Cumberton, who has previously been convicted of Mr Barr’s murder.
The two men returned to Ireland together about one month later.
Ms Justice Burns said the flight was “extremely unusual” given that it was booked three hours ahead of departure and neither Cumberton nor Slator had any luggage or even a backpack or rucksack.
Slator, of Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Barr at the Sunset House pub on Summerhill Parade in the capital on April 25, 2016.
In November 2020, 43-year-old David Hunter, of Du Cane Road, White City, London, was also jailed for life for the murder of Mr Barr.
Cumberton, of Mountjoy Street, Dublin, was given a life sentence for murder in 2019.
A fourth man, Martin Aylmer, 36, of Casino Park in Marino, Dublin, was sentenced to a little under four years after he pleaded guilty to buying mobile phones for the gang who murdered Mr Barr.
His sentence was later increased to six years by the Court of Appeal.
The trial heard there was “chaos and screaming” in the aftermath of the gun attack, which took place during a raffle for the families of Republican prisoners.
Speaking after the verdict, Ms Carr told the Irish Mirror the killing had devastated the family.
She said: “Michael was everything to us.”
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