A jury has found two family members and a teenager guilty of murdering father of seven Thomas 'Tom' Dooley in "an honour killing" during a funeral in Co Kerry.
The Central Criminal Court jury convicted Mr Dooley’s cousin and brother-in-law, Thomas Dooley Senior (43), that man’s son, Thomas Dooley Junior (21), both of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and a male teenager, of murdering 43-year-old Mr Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5th, 2022.
The three defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Thomas Dooley Jnr was also charged with assault causing harm to the wife of the late Mr Dooley, Siobhán Dooley, at Rath Cemetery on the same date. He had denied the charge but was also found guilty today on that count.
During the attack, the widow of the deceased sustained a wound which went from her right shoulder and extended to her armpit. She required 45 stitches and 30 staples.
The jury will return to the Central Criminal Court, sitting at Cork Courthouse on Anglesea Street, on Friday to consider their verdicts in relation to the other three defendants, who are also charged with murdering Thomas Dooley.
Those defendants are the younger brother of the late Mr Dooley, Patrick Dooley (36), of Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Michael Dooley (29), of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and Daniel Dooley (42), of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry.
They have all pleaded not guilty to murdering the deceased on the same occasion.
'Savage injuries'
The 12 jurors have the option of returning two verdicts in relation to the murder charge against the other three men; guilty of murder or an outright acquittal.
It is the prosecution's case that Mr Dooley died when he was violently attacked by six men as he attended a funeral at Rath Cemetery in Tralee, Co Kerry and suffered what the prosecution described as savage injuries, inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with "focused and murderous ferocity" in broad daylight.
The jury began their deliberations at 10.41am on Wednesday morning and took eight hours and 18 minutes over two days to return guilty verdicts in respect of three of the six defendants. All verdicts were unanimous.
The trial heard the deceased suffered a total of four stab injuries following an incident in the Kerry cemetery, one of which severed the femoral artery in his leg and caused him to suffer fatal blood loss.
State pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis told the trial that some of the injuries involved could have been inflicted by a machete-type weapon.
In her charge to the jurors over four days, Ms Justice Ring said if they find that any of the defendants were involved in the attack and knew their co-accused was carrying a weapon, then they are guilty of murder.
“If you are satisfied that each of these men knew there were knives or bladed weapons, and they involved themselves in the attack, then they were all participating in the murder,” she said.
In her change, the judge also reminded the jury there was no suggestion that the deceased was in possession of a bladed weapon, nor was there any suggestion of violence on his part.
In relation to the legal issue of joint participation in the charge, the judge said for any of the defendants to be convicted of murder, each must be found to have assisted the commission of the crime and must have intended by their actions to assist.
She added that if the jury was not sure if all of the accuseds were in possession of a weapon, the law states that if an accused person knew that their co-accused was carrying a weapon, they knew that he intended to act to cause murder or serious injury.
Ms Justice Ring said if the jury was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that one or more of the accused was either there or there with the necessary intentions, then the jury must look at each accused individually and make decisions based on each of the accused.
By Alison O’Riordan
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