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 today 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.
Father-of-five 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.
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 17th, 2020.
On Monday 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 21st, 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 stepchildren.
She said that all of these children now “have to live without daddy”.
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 21st, 2021.
On Monday, Det Gda 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 judgment 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.
He then found both men guilty on all counts.