A MAN who shot dead a dissident republican in a pub car park has been jailed for life.
Dean Evans (27) of Grange Park Rise, in Raheny, Co Dublin, admitted being the gunman who killed Peter Butterly outside The Huntsman Inn, Gormanston, Co Meath, on March 6 2013.
Detective Sergeant Liam Archbold told the three-judge Special Criminal Court that Evans was the shooter who gunned Mr Butterly down in the pub carpark after a planned operation.
The victim's widow Eithne Butterly wrote a statement which was read by her sister Deirdre Healy.
Addressing Evans, she said he has no concept of the pain, suffering and deep trauma the Butterly family has endured as a result of what he did. She asked if her husband's murderer had taken a second to try to imagine the pain he would cause or what it would be like to have to tell his victim's three children what happened to their father.
Hugh Hartnett for Evans, said his client was truly remorseful.
In a letter to the court, Mr Hartnett said Evans expressed his regret and added that he made decisions when he was a younger man that he would not make today or in the future.
Evans is the third person to receive a life sentence for Mr Butterly's murder after the Special Criminal Court convicted the driver of the car 36-year-old Edward McGrath of Land Dale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght, and 48-year-old Sharif Kelly of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan last year.
Three other men are due to go on trial later this year on the same charge. They are Kevin Braney (43), with a last address at Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght, Michael McDermott (58), of Riverdale House, Garrymore, Ballinagh, Co. Cavan and Frank Murphy (58), of McDonough Caravan Park, Triton Road, Bettystown, Co Meath.
