Man to appeal sentence for part in drive-by shooting of teenage girl in Dublin
A Dublin man has moved to appeal the 20-year sentence handed down to him for his part in the killing of Melanie McCarthy McNamara.
The 16-year-old was shot dead during a drive-by shooting at a housing estate in Tallaght in Dublin three years ago.
It has been almost two and a half years since Keith Hall was jailed for 20 years for the manslaughter of Melanie McCarthy McNamara, who was shot in the head as she sat in the back of a parked car in Feb 2012.
The self-confessed drug addict from Kilmartin Drive in Tallaght told Gardaí her boyfriend and another man were the intended targets, and claimed his role was just to lure some people from a house and help get rid of the gun.
Today, his counsel appealed his sentence, claiming the late Mr Justice Paul Carney did not give him enough credit for his early plea, remorse, young age and difficult background.
Counsel for the DPP pointed out the maximum penalty for manslaughter is life in prison, which would suggest he did take mitigating factors into account.
A decision on today’s appeal could be made as early as this afternoon.
