Jailed ex-lovers who bludgeoned man and hurled him off cliff launch bid for freedom

Alan Vial and Nikita Burns were convicted of the murder of 66-year-old Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin, who was beaten and thrown off Ireland’s highest cliffs at Sliabh Liag in Donegal

Two former partners who battered another man to death before hurling his body over Ireland’s tallest cliffs have argued that their murder convictions should be quashed.

Alan Vial, 41, and Nikita Burns, 25, were found guilty last year following proceedings at the Central Criminal Court of murdering 66-year-old Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin.

The court was told that the trio had been consuming alcohol together on June 25, 2023 at various locations around Donegal before an altercation erupted as Alan Vial drove them along a rural road towards their residence in Killybegs.

Mr Wilkin sustained two strikes to the back of his head with a stone that either killed him or rendered him unconscious. Vial and Burns then transported him to the clifftop and hurled his body over the precipice.

Gardaí grew suspicious when Vial and Burns subsequently crashed the vehicle which, despite their attempts to clean it, bore bloodstains across the roof. Gardaí detained Vial for drink-driving and confiscated the car, reports the Irish Mirror.

Burns, meanwhile, visited a friend’s residence where she informed multiple individuals that she and Vial had “battered” a man with a stone and thrown him over the cliffs.

Chris Quinn testified that Burns appeared at his doorstep late that evening appearing “panicky and deranged” and he believed she was “off her head”. He remembered her stating she had murdered a man and that she had “battered the fella until his face was out the back of his head”.

Burns later had a phone conversation with Sharon O’Dowd, which was recorded. The recording captured Burns admitting that they had “beat some man’s head in” and that Vial had pulled him from the car and “started caving his head in”.

Shane Costelloe SC, representing Vial, argued today before the three-judge Court of Appeal that his client was prejudiced in the eyes of the jury when they heard the various confessions that Burns made during that period. He suggested that the pair should have been tried separately to prevent the jury from hearing her pinning the fatal blows on Vial.

Mr Costelloe acknowledged that the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul McDermott, had taken care to instruct the jury that they were not permitted to use one defendant’s statements as evidence against the other. However, he argued that in this case, the jury would have been “overwhelmed” by the “sheer emotional negativity” of the prejudicial material presented to them.

Mr Costelloe stated his client admitted he was present when Mr Wilkin was killed and that he assisted in disposing of him over the cliffs. However, he said Vial denied hitting Mr Wilkin and there was no independent evidence beyond his co-defendant’s statements indicating he was responsible.

Eoin Lawlor SC, for Burns, argued that the self-incriminating statements made by his client were not voluntary and should not have been presented to the jury. He claimed she was intoxicated at the time and questioned whether she was in a rational state of mind.

Bernard Condon SC, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, stated that for Vial’s appeal to be successful, he would need to demonstrate that the refusal to conduct separate trials had resulted in a miscarriage of justice. He argued there was ample evidence to establish Vial’s guilt irrespective of any statements made by his co-accused.

Mr Condon asserted that the appellant had not proven a miscarriage of justice occurred and he characterised the judge’s instructions to the jury as “impeccable”. It is, he said, a simple matter for a jury to disregard anything Burns said when deliberating their verdict concerning Vial.

Regarding Burns, counsel stated that declarations made by accused individuals to other private citizens are always pertinent and admissible. The law, he noted, permits involuntary statements to be deemed inadmissible to safeguard individuals from the power of the State.

No such protection exists for people engaged in private conversations, he added.

Burns, from Carrick, Co Donegal and Vial from Drumanoo Head, Killybegs, were present in court for today’s hearing. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, alongside Ms Justice Tara Burns and Mr Justice Charles Meenan, deferred judgment.

The Irish Coast Guard retrieved Mr Wilkin’s body from the sea eight days after Vial and Burns cast him over the cliffs. Due to damage from predators and decomposition, State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster was unable to determine a cause of death.

She identified numerous fractures to Mr Wilkin’s face but was unable to determine which were the result of the cliff fall and which were due to a previous assault. However, she did pinpoint two fractures at the back of his head that didn’t align with a cliff fall, but were “entirely consistent” with a strike from a blood-stained rock discovered by gardaí at the cliff top.

DNA tests revealed that the blood and hairs on the rock belonged to Mr Wilkin.

During the trial, Vial took to the stand to accuse his co-defendant of delivering the two blows to the back of Mr Wilkin’s head. He alleged that he hadn’t informed the gardaí about his co-accused’s actions because he harboured feelings for her.

In her garda interviews, Burns pointed the finger at Vial and denied hitting Mr Wilkin. She claimed her confessions to Mr Quinn and others were mere “exaggeration” and stated she didn’t want Vial to shoulder all the blame.

However, the jury sided with the prosecution’s argument that they were both involved in a joint venture to seriously injure Mr Wilkin, thus finding them both guilty of murder.