Courts

Man accused of participation in ‘honour killing’ was seeking to save his sibling, jury hears

Six accused of murder of Thomas ‘Tom’ Dooley at funeral in Tralee in October 2022

Patrick Dooley (36), brother of the late Thomas 'Tom' Dooley, with an address at Arbutus Grove, Killarney, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 43 year old at Rath Cemetery in Tralee on October 5th, 2022. He is one of six accused of murdering the father-of-seven. Photograph: Alan Betson
Alison O'Riordan
Fri Jul 05 2024 - 21:07

A man accused of carrying out a “biblical atrocity” by “butchering” his older brother in “an honour killing” at a Co Kerry funeral is “no Cainite” and was instead in the middle of the attack trying to save his sibling, his lawyer has told a murder trial jury.

Patrick Dooley (36), who is the younger brother of the late Thomas “Tom” Dooley and has an address at Arbutus Grove, Killarney, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 43 year old at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry, on October 5th, 2022.

Patrick Dooley is one of six people accused of murdering the father-of-seven from Hazelwood Drive, Killarney.

[ Co Kerry graveyard ‘honour killing’ was as ‘heartbreaking as it was ridiculous and stupid’, trial hears ]

In his closing address for the State on Thursday, Dean Kelly SC said the five family members and teenager had used “medieval violence” to “butcher” the father of seven in “an honour killing” during the Co Kerry funeral, carrying out a “biblical atrocity” that was as “tragic and heartbreaking as it was ridiculous and stupid”.

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It is the State’s case that Mr Dooley died when he was violently attacked as he attended a funeral in Tralee, Co Kerry, on October 5th, 2022, and suffered what the prosecution has described as savage injuries, inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with “focused and murderous ferocity”.

The trial has heard that the deceased suffered a total of four stabbing injuries following the attack in the Kerry graveyard, one of which severed the femoral artery in his leg and caused him to suffer a fatal blood loss.

In his closing address on Friday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, Brendan Grehan SC, defending Patrick Dooley, told the jurors he hoped he wouldn’t be throwing any sand or “magic glitter” in their eyes. He said he agreed with the prosecution to let the evidence be their guide in the case.

Mr Grehan said he rejected the proposition that this was the biblical Cain and Abel story and said his client had always denied he had any involvement in murdering his brother. He said Mr Kelly had referred to Patrick Dooley carrying out a “biblical atrocity” in his closing speech but Mr Grehan emphasised that his client was “no Cainite” and his consistent position throughout was that he hadn’t murdered his brother.

[ Gardaí to prepare file for DPP after releasing man arrested in Tom Dooley murder investigation ]

The lawyer said Patrick Dooley’s position was very different from his five co-accused in that Patrick had always said and accepted he was “there in that attack”.

The barrister added: “His purpose in being there was because others were attacking his brother, his flesh and blood and he went to his aid to try and help him. And he has mistakenly, whether unintentionally or intentionally, been cast as one of the attackers in this case.”

Counsel said his client was the only person who had identified others who were in the graveyard that day yet it was the prosecution’s contention that Patrick Dooley was a liar.

Mr Grehan suggested the case against his client boiled down to one fairly simple proposition which was whether the jury was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Patrick Dooley had a weapon in his hand that day.

Mr Grehan said Patrick was in the middle of it all trying to save his brother, not trying to attack him. and had received an injury himself. He said his client being accused of using the phrase “come on now, boys” had been made out by the prosecution as “a rallying call for the troops”. “‘Come on now, boys’ can be as much ‘hold off now, boys’,” he noted.

In his closing address, Brian McInerney SC, defending Daniel Dooley, referred to the case of Harry Gleeson who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1941 and hanged, when he was an entirely innocent man.

[ Woman’s wound needed 45 stitches and 30 staples after graveyard attack that killed husband, court hears ]

Ultimately, counsel said an inquiry was established by the government and the report found that he had been convicted on unconvincing circumstantial evidence before eventually being given a complete pardon in 2015.

Daniel Dooley (42), of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5th, 2022.

Referring to his client’s case, Mr McInerney said juries had an onerous duty to undertake to avoid a miscarriage of justice. He also said that Daniel Dooley was not forensically connected to anything anywhere in the case so there was “a great big hole in terms of the forensic picture”.

The four other defendants in the case – the victim’s cousin Thomas Dooley snr (43) and that man’s son, Thomas Dooley jnr (21), along with Michael Dooley (29), all of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and a male teenager – have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas Dooley on the same occasion.

Thomas Dooley jnr is also charged with assault causing serious harm to the wife of the late Mr Dooley, Siobhán Dooley, at Rath Cemetery on the same date. He has pleaded not guilty in respect of this count also.

Siobhán Dooley required 45 stitches and 30 staples after sustaining a wound during the attack, which went from her right shoulder and extended to her armpit.

The trial continues on Monday when Thomas Creed SC, defending Thomas Dooley snr, will give his closing address.