IRA accused sent text to victim's wife's phone minutes before he was shot dead, trial hears

The Special Criminal Court has heard evidence during an ongoing trial concerning the fatal shooting of dissident republican Peter Butterly in March 2013. Laurence Murphy, aged 62, of Bettystown, County Meath, and Ray Kennedy, aged 39, of Blanchardstown, Dublin, have pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the IRA on the date of the killing. Mr Butterly, a 35-year-old father of…