Two men (30s) plead guilty to conspiring to murder Dublin teenager

Ryan Dunne

Two men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder a teenage boy on Dublin’s southside in 2021.

Stephen Mulvey (34) and Jamie Berry (30), both of Leo Fitzgerald House, Dublin, were arraigned before the Central Criminal Court on Monday.

They were charged that on dates between February 23rd and 24th, 2021, both dates inclusive, within the State, they did conspire to murder a Dublin teenager.

Both men entered a guilty plea to the charge, with the two defendants remanded on bail until January 19th next year.

Their pleas come after the Court of Appeal ordered their retrial, overturning a trial judge's direction that both should be found not guilty due to a lack of evidence against them.

In March 2023, at the Central Criminal Court, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon directed a jury to find Berry and Mulvey not guilty of the attempted murder of the teenage boy.

During the trial, it was the State's case that Berry was the shooter and Mulvey was assisting, along with another male not before the courts.

The teenager also gave evidence during the trial but said that he could not remember any events on the day in question before or after his shooting and that he was on medication at the time.

In overturning Ms Justice Creedon’s decision at the Court of Appeal in February last year, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court would quash the acquittals and order a retrial.