The eight children of a businessman who was shot in cold blood and died after being in a coma for over a year now “have to live without daddy”, the Special Criminal Court has heard.
The non-jury court yesterday heard a victim impact statement made on behalf the family of Barry Wolverson before it jailed two career criminals for life for his murder. The murder trial heard that Mr Wolverson, 40, was a businessman who rented space at Madigan’s Yard in Swords in north Dublin. At the time of his shooting, his partner was expecting a child.
Mr Wolverson and Gerard Wildman were sitting in a car at the yard shortly before midday when Mr Wolverson was shot “several times”. Mr Wolverson eventually died from cardiac arrest after being treated in a residential care facility while in a comatose state for 13 months.
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The two men, Robert Redmond, 34, of Streamville Road, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5, and Bernard Fogarty, 34, with an address at Cromcastle Court, Kilmore, Coolock, Dublin 5, both denied the murder of Mr Wolverson at Madigan’s Yard, Kileek Lane, Swords, Co Dublin, at around midday on January 17, 2020. Yesterday at the Special Criminal Court, Mr Wolverson’s only sister read a victim impact statement on behalf of the Wolverson family to the court, in which she said they will grieve her brother’s murder forever and that their lives had also “changed forever”.
Lindsay Wolverson told the court that, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they were unable to visit Barry while he was in hospital. She said that not being able to visit Mr Wolverson caused “fear and anxiety” for the family and that when Mr Wolverson passed away on February 21, 2021, his family’s hearts were broken.
Ms Wolverson said that at the time of the deceased’s shooting his partner was expecting a child, whom he never saw. He also has four children and three step-children. She said that all of these children now “have to live without daddy”.
She said that Mr Wolverson “loved and adored” his children and that he always put family first. Ms Wolverson said the deceased was the “one person” the family turned to and that he was a young man with a young family whose life was “unnecessarily stolen”.
Ms Wolverson said she and her family would “grieve forever” and that even though they would try to heal, they would “never be whole again, never be the same again”. Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said the murder was “cold-blooded” and the court noted that Mr Wolverson never got to see his youngest son, who was born after his shooting.
Mr Justice MacGrath said the murder caused the Wolverson family “great distress and loneliness”. He said the family showed “great dignity and courage throughout the trial”.
Mr Justice MacGrath said he would sentence both men to life imprisonment for the murder and sentenced them to 12 years in jail for the possession of the gun and ammunition on the day. The judge also sentenced both men to five years each for the assault causing harm to Mr Wildman on the same date.
All sentences are to run concurrently. Mr Justice MacGrath said there were no exceptional or mitigating circumstances available to either man when their “considerable” previous convictions were taken into account.
The two men had originally been charged before the non-jury court in April of last year with the attempted murder of Mr Wolverson, who died on February 21, 2021 after a 13-month spell in hospital in a comatose state. Yesterday, Detective Garda Sergeant Ian Brunton told Madeleine Grant BL, for the prosecution, that Redmond had 93 previous convictions at the time of the shooting.
He said 86 of these were dealt with at District Court level and involved thefts, public order offences, road traffic infractions, possession of a mobile phone in prison and possession of drugs. Det Sgt Brunton said Redmond had four criminal damage convictions along with convictions for possession of drugs for sale or supply and blackmail extortion.
Det Sgt Brunton told Ms Grant that Fogarty had 46 previous convictions, which included assault, criminal damage, possession of firearms, possession of drugs for sale or supply, burglary and road traffic offences. Det Sgt Brunton added that Fogarty was on bail at the time of the shooting.
Redmond could only be known as “AB” during the trial as he had other matters pending before the courts that have since been dealt with. Both men were also found guilty of assault causing harm to Gerard Wildman, who was also shot, at Madigan’s Yard on the same date.
Mr Wildman, who was shot in the lower back, refused to make a statement to gardaí in the matter. In delivering judgement earlier this month, Mr Justice MacGrath said there was no reasonable possibility of any other person other than the two men having been involved in the murder.
Mr Justice McGrath said the evidence when considered in its totality found no other conclusion but that the two men were guilty on all counts, which further included possession of a lethal firearm and possession of ammunition at Madigan’s Yard on January 17, 2020, for both men. Mr Justice McGrath said Redmond’s hands and clothing were subjected to forensic analysis by gardaí, who found firearm-discharge residue on his jacket.
Dr John O’Shaughnessy of Forensic Science Ireland had described this as “very strong” support for the position that Redmond was the shooter. No firearm residue was found in relation to Fogarty, which Dr O’Shaughnessy said was “moderate support” for him not being the shooter.
The trial had heard from prosecuting barrister Paul Greene SC, who said that the case against the two men was a “circumstantial” one but that the court would be in no doubt as to their guilt due to forensic evidence regarding gunshot residue. Counsel also said that the two were captured on CCTV moving “in tandem” on the day of the shooting.
Mr Justice MacGrath said he was satisfied with the evidence concerning the collection of a jerrycan by Mr Fogarty and the purchase of firelogs, both caught on CCTV, used by the pair in burning out a Citroen C4 in Greenwood Estate, Dublin 13, minutes after the shooting. Mr Justice MacGrath said gardaí had viewed over 1,700 hours of CCTV footage in investigating the case, tracking the movements of Mr Fogarty’s Renault Megane and the Citroen C4 between Madigan’s Yard and Greenwiew Estate on January 16 and 17, 2020.
He said he was satisfied that it was Mr Fogarty seen on camera buying three fire logs from a Circle K petrol station the day before, one of which was later found in Mr Fogarty’s Megane while the other two were found partially burned in the Citroen, which had cloned plates. Gardaí arrested Fogarty at around 12.25pm, half an hour after the shooting, and noticed a smell of petrol from his tracksuit bottoms and that he had a lighter in his hand.
The court also heard that after he was arrested, Fogarty attempted to wash his hands with Lynx shower gel when in Coolock Garda Station before forensic testing could be applied. The judge said that the court was entitled to make inferences after Fogarty “deliberately” refused to account for his presence nearby the burn site or for the presence of the Zip firelog in his own car.
Judge MacGrath said the entitlement to make inferences from Fogarty’s silence did not in of itself amount to his guilt but any inference made could be used to corroborate other evidence before the court. The judge said the court accepted that there was no firearm ever recovered in the case and that there was no DNA from either man on bullets found at the scene. He added that any reasonable doubt in the case had to be resolved in favour of the accused.
Mr Justice MacGrath said the court had to “stand back to view the united force of all the circumstantial evidence” in the case. He said that Fogarty and Redmond were arrested around 300 yards from the burning Citroen at around 12.25pm on the day and that he had to factor in their proximity and association to events on the day.
Mr Justice MacGrath said he was satisfied that Redmond and Fogarty were in each other’s company on the day and present at the yard in the Citroen, which was caught on camera entering and then re-entering the yard after Mr Wolverson drove into it before midday. He said he was satisfied that Fogarty was the driver on the day and that Redmond was his passenger with no other person present in the car.
Mr Justice MacGrath said the person who set fire to the Citroen did so deliberately and that Fogarty had been seen collecting the jerry can from his sister’s home before gardaí arrested him near the scene and noticed he smelled of an accelerant. In interview, Redmond had claimed he was being framed by people unknown for something he didn’t do.
However, the judge said he was satisfied that firearms residue was discovered on Redmond’s hoodie when he was arrested eight minutes after the burning car was discovered and the court would found him guilty of the murder of Mr Wolverson and guilty of the assault causing harm to Mr Wildman. The judge said he had considered the level of involvement of Fogarty in the “joint venture of common purpose”.
Mr Justice MacGrath said Fogarty could not be considered to only be an accessory after the fact in burning out the car. The judge said Fogarty had prior knowledge of what was about to happen and had engaged in pre-planning with Redmond, which made him liable for the murder as much as his co-accused.
Fogarty was “very much involved in events before the shooting” and his role was “not confined to the aftermath when actively involved in the destruction of the Citroen,” said the judge. The judge said that both men were guilty of the common design of trying to kill or seriously injure Mr Wolverson and that there was “no reasonable possibility of another conclusion”. He then found both men guilty on all counts.
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