A man has been convicted of a "biblical atrocity" by murdering his own brother in "an honour killing" during a Co Kerry funeral.
In returning their verdict on Friday, the 12 Central Criminal Court jurors unanimously rejected Patrick Dooley's defence that he was "no Cainite" and had tried to save his sibling Thomas 'Tom' Dooley during the attack.
Patrick Dooley (36), with an address at Arbutus Grove, Killarney had pleaded not guilty to murdering his older brother Thomas 'Tom' Dooley (42) at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5th, 2022.
The defendant had claimed that a feud had been going on for years and that he witnessed "five or six fellas" descend on his deceased brother, while he [Patrick] had jumped in and got slapped. He told gardaí that he had tried to pull the men back but it had happened so fast and he could do no more for his brother.
However, Siobhan Dooley (45), the widow of the deceased, said in her evidence that she saw her brother-in-law Patrick Dooley grin and produce a knife before her husband was attacked.
On Thursday, the jurors convicted Mr Dooley’s cousin and brother-in-law, Thomas Dooley Senior (43), and that man’s son, Thomas Dooley Junior (21), both of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, as well as a male teenager of murdering Mr Dooley. All the defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Thomas Dooley Jnr was also found guilty of assault causing harm to Siobhán Dooley at Rath Cemetery on the same date. He had denied the charge but was also found guilty on Thursday 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.
When the registrar asked the foreman of the jury on Friday whether they had reached a verdict on any other count, he replied: "No".
The 10 men and two women of the jury will return to the Central Criminal Court sitting at Cork Courthouse, Anglesea Street, next Tuesday to consider their verdicts in relation to the other two defendants, who are also charged with murdering Thomas Dooley.
These are the victim's cousins, Michael Dooley (29), of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and Daniel Dooley (42), of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry. They have both pleaded not guilty to murdering the deceased on the same occasion.
The 12 jurors have the option of returning two verdicts in relation to the murder charge against the other two men namely; guilty of murder or an outright acquittal.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring told the jurors at 4pm on Friday that she would send them home for the weekend saying: "Leave this all behind and enjoy the weekend. See you on Tuesday at 10am."
The jury began their deliberations at 10:41am on Wednesday morning and have taken 12 hours and 26 minutes over three days to return guilty verdicts in respect of four of the six defendants. All four verdicts were unanimous.
Savage injuries
It is the prosecution case that Mr Dooley died when he was violently attacked by six men as he attended a funeral at Rath Cemetery and suffered what the State described as savage injuries, inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with "focused and murderous ferocity" in broad daylight.
The 12 jurors unanimously accepted the State's case against Patrick Dooley today that "a biblical atrocity" had occurred in the graveyard that day with "brother killing brother".
Mr Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, had told the jurors that "honour" had been offended when Thomas Dooley's daughter had refused to marry the accused, Thomas Dooley Junior, and their relationship broke down. He submitted that this was "a score that was to be settled".
The trial 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 fatal blood loss.
State pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis told the jury 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 told them that 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.
The judge had also reminded the jury in her charge that there was no allegation to suggest Mr Dooley himself was in possession of a bladed weapon, nor any suggestion of violence on his part or evidence that there was some kind of event taking place that he somehow got caught up in and got injured.
In relation to the legal issue of joint participation in the charge, the judge said that 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 the accused were in possession of a weapon, the law says 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 that 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.
