The position of a trespasser on a farm with respect to the law professor who shot him cannot be determined solely by the track of the bullet through the deceased's head, a pathologist has told a murder trial jury.
The State pathologist testified that the father-of-four Keith Conlon died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Evidence has been given that leading barrister Diarmuid Phelan had shouted at two trespassers on his farm to "get back" before he fired three shots from his Smith & Wesson revolver.
It is the State's case that two of the three shots were fired into the air and the third shot connected with Keith Conlon. In her opening speech, Roisin Lacey SC said the prosecution's case is that when the third shot was fired, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave.
Mr Phelan (56) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24, on February 24th, 2022.
The accused man is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove, formerly a golf course in Tallaght.
Mr Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was seriously injured in the shooting incident on February 22nd and died at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.
State pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers said the bullet had penetrated the scalp at the right parietal bone and that there was a skull fracture over the left orbital plate.
She said there had been a displaced fracture of the left clavicle with some soft tissue haemorrhage.
In her evidence, the witness said she had recovered the deformed and fragmented bullet. She said the bullet became deformed as it hit bone going through the scalp and the skull.
A toxicology report detected no evidence of drugs or alcohol in Mr Conlon's system. However, Dr Okkers said a postmortem urine test showed evidence of cannabis use sometime prior to death. She said cannabis can stay in urine for seven days.
In summary, the witness said there was a single gunshot entrance wound to the back of Mr Conlon's head, that the brain was swollen and it was a distant gunshot wound.
She said there were no defence type injuries or offensive ones. She said a displaced left clavicle fracture fall occurred after the gunshot wound was received.
Contributory factors
The deceased's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and there were no contributory factors.
Under cross-examination, the witness agreed with Sean Guerin SC, defending, that the head is a particularly dynamic part of the body and if the body turns the head turns but the head can turn without the body turning too.
She also agreed that the body can turn without the head also turning.
"What that means is because of the possible range of the movement of the head, the position of the victim with respect to the shooter can't be determined solely by the track of the bullet?" asked Mr Guerin. The witness agreed with this proposition.
"If Keith Conlon had been facing towards Mr Phelan shortly before the shot was discharged, either turning his head to the side or twisting his body could account for the position of the entrance wound?" asked the barrister. Dr Okkers said it could be a combination of him turning or his head turning and body following.
Mr Guerin put it to the witness that this could be turning to look at the person who was with him. The witness said this was possible.
The witness also agreed that after Mr Conlon turned and after the shot was discharged he had fallen into a bunker. She said the total drop for his shoulder would have been 3.2 metres and an "uncontrolled drop" of that height would be sufficient to cause a shoulder injury.
She further agreed the distance between the muzzle of the gun and Mr Conlon's head at the point of discharge was more than a metre.
In re-examination, Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, put it to the witness that she was asked about the location of the gunshot wound being consistent with Mr Conlon facing towards the accused man when or shortly after the shot was fired and that he was either turning his head or body to leave or turning to look back. "Yes it could be either or," replied Dr Okkers.
"Would it be equally consistent with the deceased having fully turned his back to the shooter?" asked Ms Lacey, to which the witness agreed.
Earlier, Garda Kevin Bohan told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that he was asked to conduct a review of the Garda Pulse system in relation to records of incidents directly related to Hazelgrove Farm and the golf club between 2014 and 2024. He agreed that many of these incidents were reported to gardaí by Mr Phelan.
Under cross-examination, Gda Bohan agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that some of his colleagues had been given a fob to activate the electric gate to Hazelgrove farm and a number so gardaí could "spot patrol" and call into the farm unannounced.
Mr Bowman said his client had taken possession of Hazelgrove in 2014 and before that it was an active golf club with a sizeable clubhouse.
Counsel brought the jury through all the incidents recorded at the golf club from 2014, including burglaries where the clubhouse was ransacked, thefts of vehicles and well known local criminals acting suspiciously.
There was also an incident of a minor assault to a security guard.
Extensive damage
The golf club was set ablaze on March 13th, 2016 and extensive damage was done to the roof. Mr Phelan was recorded as the injured party.
Three days later criminal damage was done to "the golf cottage", where all the windows were smashed in. The estimated damage was €2,000 and the injured party was the accused.
There were two further incidents of criminal damage by fire carried out on the clubhouse in May and July 2016.
There was €10,000 worth of damage done in the third incident. The garda agreed that in three months there had been three separate incidents of arson.
Referring to incidents on Hazelgrove Farm from 2014 onwards, Mr Bowman said these included illegal dumping, trespass and CCTV cameras being stolen.
CCTV footage of a theft was shown to the jury from 2020, where men trespassed onto the land with poles in their hands. The witness agreed that the men can be seen interfering with CCTV cameras to take them out of operation.
Mr Bowman said there was an incident of criminal damage and public order trespass at Hazelgrove in June 2016 where suspects threw rocks at the accused's vehicle causing €500 worth of damage.
He said the parties were identified and prosecuted and brought before Tallaght District Court in June 2017.
He said the accused attended court in June 2017, where counsel said threats to kill were made to Mr Phelan in the courtroom by the defendants and that this matter went forward as a separate investigation.
Under re-examination, the witness agreed with the prosecution that none of these instances were in any way connected with the deceased man and the other two trespassers, Kallum Coleman and Robin Duggan.
In her opening address, Ms Lacey said the jury will hear evidence that on the day in question three men including Mr Conlon had trespassed on a wooded area of Mr Phelan's land while hunting foxes or badgers.
Counsel said that Mr Phelan told gardaí he became concerned about a dog running loose on his land towards his sheep and shot it with his Winchester rifle, whereupon he said three men immediately "exploded" from the wooded area and began threatening him.
The 12 jurors were also told by the State that Mr Phelan said he was shaking with fear and "scrambled" up a bank to get away but when the deceased man Keith Conlon and a second man kept coming he believed they were "coming to fulfil the threats they had made".
As they got closer, Mr Phelan said he reached for his Smith & Wesson revolver in his pocket and fired in the air over their heads but was "stunned when one man went down", the court has heard.
In her opening speech, Ms Lacey said she expects the defence case to be that the accused was entitled to discharge the firearm in a legitimate act of self-defence.
They will say that it was not done with the intention of causing the bullet to penetrate Mr Conlon's body and that the penetration was an accidental, unintended result, she stated.
The State's case, Ms Lacey highlighted, is that when the third shot was fired, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave. "In those circumstances we say the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury," counsel said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women.
