Galway Bay fm newsroom - A man who was part of a gang that killed an Oughterard publican during a burglary and then left the country has asked for leave to appeal his conviction.
26 year old Marian Lingurar jnr is serving a nine-year prison sentence for his role in the death of John Kenny in 2011.
The Court of Appeal heard today that Lingurar did not lodge his appeal within the required time period following his conviction.
His barrister Colman Fitzgerald told the three-judge court that his client's solicitor thought the appeal had been lodged but it has since emerged that the appeal lodged related to Lingurar's father, who has the same first name.
Mr Fitzgerald said the grounds of appeal are "serious" and that justice requires that the appeal be heard.
Pointing to one ground, he said the court will need to determine whether his client's privacy rights were breached when gardai obtained phone records that were used during the trial to establish that Lingurar was not where he claimed to be on the night.
Mr Justice George Birmingham noted that after the offence in 2011 Lingurar broke his bail conditions, attempted to get a travel document, left Ireland and returned under a false name, resulting in his trial being delayed until 2019.
He said that in deciding whether to allow the extension he must consider the rights of the victim's family.
Lingurar, a Romanian national with former addresses in Loughgeorge, Claregalway, and Blackpool, Cork, was found guilty by a jury in 2019 of the manslaughter of Mr Kenny, at Kenny’s pub in Oughterard on September 25th 2011.
