Delivery cyclist found not guilty on all counts in Josh Dunne murder trial

A food delivery cyclist who has spent more than 500 days in custody accused of murdering 16-year-old Josh Dunne has been cleared of any offence in relation to the fatal stabbing by a unanimous Central Criminal Court jury.

The jury accepted George Gonzaga Bento’s position that he was acting in self-defence after being attacked by a gang when he and a colleague tried to retrieve a stolen bike. He said he had pulled out a utility knife that he carried for cutting fruit and stabbed three people, including 16-year-old Josh.

They rejected the State’s contention that Mr Bento had decided to take the law into his own hands, had exaggerated the threat posed by his attackers and knew at the time that the force he used was not necessary to repel the attack.

[ George Bento: Josh Dunne’s death ‘something I’ll regret for the rest of my life’ ]

Mr Bento (36), a Brazilian national with an address in East Wall in Dublin 3, had denied murdering 16-year-old Josh Dunne at East Wall Road, East Wall, on January 26th, 2021.

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Mr Bento has been in custody for about 18 months having been refused bail by the High Court, but following the verdicts trial Judge Mr Justice Paul Burns told him he is free to go.

A prison officer told the court that Mr Bento would be released from the court building. Mr Bento smiled and hugged family and friends when the verdicts were announced. Members of Josh Dunne’s family, including his mother, quickly left the court.

“I said sorry at the beginning, at the end,” Mr Bento said outside the court when asked if he accepted it was a very difficult day for the boy’s mother. “Hopefully one day she could forgive me for what happened. I continue to say sorry.”

He added what happened to her son was never his intention.

“I’m very grateful, I pray a lot for that,” he said of being acquitted. He felt great “emotion” and would need time to “process” the case and its outcome.

“Now my focus is my family and to spend some time with the people I love and the people who supported me,” he said.

Diane Dunne later posted on Facebook thanking supporters for their kind words and said she was “not going down easy” and would “keep fighting for Josh” until the day she died.

The jury took a little more than eight hours to reach unanimous verdicts on all counts following a six-week trial.

The prosecution alleged that Mr Bento produced a knife during a “stand-off or confrontation” with a man on a moped who had stolen another delivery cyclist’s bike. Josh Dunne and other youths arrived at the scene and got involved in the confrontation.

Mr Bento told gardaí that he had used a knife to defend himself from the man on the moped and the gang of youths. He said it was only his intention to intimidate them when he took out the knife and make them go away. He said he stabbed the first and second males who punched and attacked him as he was scared and wanted to protect himself.

Josh, an unarmed teenager who was unknown to gardaí, did not initially attack Mr Bento or Guillherme Quieroz but just held the moped while the attack continued. When he saw Mr Bento stab his friend, Josh reacted by punching Mr Bento repeatedly before being stabbed.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers said Josh suffered two stab wounds to the chest.

The accused took the stand during the trial and said he and his friend Mr Quieroz had followed a bike thief through Dublin but when they tried to retrieve the stolen bike, they were set on by a gang of men and youths.

Mr Bento said he feared for his life and that of his friend and that he used the knife to defend them from serious injury or death. He told the jury he believed the level of force he used was necessary to keep him and Mr Quieroz alive. “I believe I saved two lives, mine and Guilherme’s,” he said.

Prosecution counsel, Sean Guerin SC, said when Mr Bento produced the knife a second time and used it to stab one of the alleged victims, the teenagers were backing away and neither he nor his friend was under attack. He said that Josh Dunne, who had no involvement in the assault up to then, reacted to seeing his friend being stabbed by using reasonable force in punching Mr Bento to push him away.

Counsel described Josh’s actions as “commendable” but said Mr Bento reacted to Josh’s reasonable response with lethal force that he knew was not necessary to protect himself or his friend.

The judge had charged the jury that, in relation to the murder charge, if it was reasonably possible that the accused acted in defence of himself or another and used no more force than was necessary, he should be found not guilty. Where a person used more force than was reasonably necessary but no more force than he honestly believed was necessary, the verdict would be not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The jury also acquitted Mr Bento of producing a utility knife in a manner likely to intimidate another in the course of a dispute or fight. He was further acquitted of assault causing harm to two other young men on the same occasion.

Following the verdicts, the judge thanked the jury and exempted them from further service for seven years.