No issue with voluntariness of version of events after Gardai invoked inference provisions

Birmingham P: Criminal law – murder – appeal against conviction – appellant had previously stood trial in 2013 charged with the murder of the deceased but was acquitted by direction of the trial judge – prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court and acquittal was quashed and a retrial ordered – deceased was in the company of the appellant and Mr Noone when last seen alive – some three years later, deceased’s remains were found – clear that he had suffered death by stabbing – murder investigation was launched – case was that Mr Noone stabbed the deceased with garden shears – appellant lured the deceased to a secluded location – prosecution case was that the appellant believed that Mr Noone intended to assault the deceased while knowing that Mr Noone wsa a violent person – question is whether the accused could have been in any doubt as to his rights to say nothing and whether or not, in fact, with the benefit of the knowledge of those rights, he freely decided to speak – agreement with trial judge that no indication whatsoever that the accused’s decision to speak in the manner that he did was prompted by confusion or the Gardai’s invocation of the inference provisions – no doubt what accused said was said on a voluntary basis – trial judge was not in error in admitting the evidence – appeal dismissed.