A Man who has been found guilty of the capital murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan will be sentenced next month.
Stephen Silver, with an address in Foxford, County Mayo, had claimed he was suffering from a mental disorder when he shot him in June 2020.
It was standing room only in the Central Criminal Court when word filtered through the building that a verdict was imminent.
This wasn’t the first time Stephen Silver stood trial for the murder of Det Garda Colm Horkan. A jury was unable to reach agreement last time round, but after just under nine hours of deliberations, this jury convicted him of capital murder this afternoon.
After grappling during an attempted arrest at the junction of Patrick Street and Main Street in Castlerea on a night in June 2020, Stephen Silver used Det Horkan’s gun to shoot him eleven times. He emptied the entire magazine of the gun.
He claimed he was suffering a relapse of a mental disorder at the time but the prosecution claimed his mental capacity was intact when he pulled the trigger.
The jury agreed.
There were hugely emotional scenes in court when the verdict was delivered. Det Horkan’s colleagues, friends and family embraced each other in tears.
The Minister of Justice Simon Harris has said his thought are with the family and friends of Detective Garda Colm Horkan, and with all his colleagues in An Garda Síochána.
In a statement, he added that the detective was a proud Mayo and GAA man; loved and respected in his community and by his colleagues; steadfast in his duties and professional and wholehearted in doing the job he loved as a Garda.
Minister Harris also paid tribute to the 88 other Gardaí who have lost their lives in the line of duty and their families today.
