Limerick biker jailed for murder brings appeal claiming he was provoked

A Limerick biker jailed for murdering the founder of a rival club has moved to appeal his conviction on grounds that he was provoked. 

Alan 'Cookie' McNamara (52), from Mountfune, Murroe, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Andrew 'AOD' O'Donoghue at the gates of the Road Tramps motorcycle club at Mountfune, on June 20, 2015. 

He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Paul McDermott on October 27, 2017. 

The Central Criminal Court heard that Mr O’Donoghue developed a love of bikes in the 1980s and was a founding member of the Road Tramps motorcycle club. McNamara had been a Road Tramp some years earlier but joined another group, the Caballeros, in 2015. 

Tensions between the two clubs flared when McNamara was seen wearing Caballeros colours in a pub in Doon, Co Limerick, an area considered to be Road Tramps' territory.

His lawyers told the Court of Appeal on Tuesday that McNamara was having a quiet drink in Doon with his wife when he was subjected to a “humiliating” assault.

McNamara was attacked, his wife was knocked to the ground and the Caballeros colours were taken from his motorcycle jacket - a particular insult in the sub-culture. 

Counsel for McNamara, Hugh Hartnett SC, said it was a deliberate and planned provocation to make his client feel unwelcome in the area. 

He said three Road Tramps later pulled up to McNamara’s house in a car, produced firearms and threatened to kill him. 

The following day, Mr Hartnett said McNamara could hear the “throaty roar” of Harley-Davidsons revving their engines in the distance. It was a few miles away but “deep in the countryside you could hear them”. 

McNamara then received a phone call from his stepson, who told him he was in a car with two other Caballeros following a member of the Road Tramps in the direction of the rival club’s headquarters.

Mr Hartnett said McNamara was “very concerned” for his step-son in view of the threats issued the previous evening.

“Panicked”, he said McNamara got into his car and drove to the Road Tramps' HQ with a loaded shotgun. When he arrived he saw Mr O'Donoghue holding what he thought to be a gun, so he shot him. Mr O’Donoghue was in fact holding a metal bar. 

Mr Hartnett said the trial judge failed to allow the defence of provocation be considered by the jury. 

The trial judge said there was obvious provocation when a man is attacked outside a pub and his clothing is stolen. But it wasn’t sufficiently proximate to the shooting, 16 hours later.

Mr Hartnett said the provocation was cumulative. He said the onset must be sudden but it doesn’t have to be proximate to the provocation. He referred to cases involving “battered wives” or victims of sexual abuse who “brew” over many years before unleashing at the slightest thing.

When it was put to counsel that the deceased was not involved in the assault in Doon or in the threats made outside McNaramara’s home, Mr Hartnett said the Road Tramps were not acting as individuals but were acting as a group. 

The Road Tramps shouted that “we are going to kill you” and “we are going to burn your house down”, Mr Hartnett stressed. 

He said it was for the jury to assess whether the cumulative effect of the previous night’s events was still weighing on McNamara’s mind at the time of the shooting.  

He said there was evidence from which the jury could find McNamara had totally lost his self-control. 

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Michael Delaney SC, said there was no doubt that what happened the night before was provocative but the deceased man had nothing to do with those events. 

Mr Delaney said there was no authority for the idea that provocation can operate on a third-party basis, but it must emanate from the deceased. The other problem for the defence was the 16-hour interval. 

He said evidence from the pathologist was that the deceased was no more than 10 feet away from the shotgun, given the limited spread of the shot, and that was very significant evidence given what McNamara was claiming. 

He said a witness at the scene heard McNamara, after the shooting, say “I got one of them”, Mr Delaney said. 

Furthermore, he said there was evidence that McNamara, having shot the deceased, attempted to reload the shotgun. His explanation was that he thought a “whole hoard” of Road Tramps were coming out. 

He said there was much debate at trial about self-defence, rather than provocation, and one might query whether the situation justified the use of force at all. 

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, said the court would reserve its judgment.