A witness has told the Central Criminal Court that one of two brothers on trial for the murder of Michael Mulvey, who died two weeks after an alleged assault near the Halfway House Pub, told him he “lost it” and admitted punching and kicking the deceased man.
Ian (34) and Daniel (43) Connaghan, of Ashington Rise, Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 7 have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael 'Mick' Mulvey (55) on November 27th 2019.
Prosecution barrister Ms Anne Rowland SC has told the trial that Mr Mulvey's partner Pauline Matthews awoke to find the 55-year-old had passed away in bed beside her two weeks after he suffered what the State says was a "severe beating" at the hands of the two brothers.
Giving evidence to Ms Rowland, Stephen Kelly, who was in relationship with Ms Matthew’s daughter at the time, said he spoke to Ian Connaghan on the phone on November 15th, 2019.
“I asked him what happened with Mick; why did he jump Mick,” Mr Kelly said. “At first he said he didn’t, then he admitted he did.” The witness said Mr Connaghan told him he had punched Mr Mulvey and kicked him when he was on the ground.
Mr Kelly told the jury he also asked Ian Connaghan whether he was on his own or if he was with anyone else at the time and Mr Connaghan told him he wasn’t with anyone else.
He said he asked Mr Connaghan what had happened on November 14th and the accused told him he had been crossing the traffic lights on the Navan Road when he “came across Mick and Pauline and there was an altercation”.
He said Mr Connaghan told him there were “words” and the accused said he “wanted to get his own back”. He said he had an altercation and just basically said he wanted to get Mick back,” the witness added.
Asked by Ms Rowland if Mr Connaghan had said anything about his state of mind at the time, Mr Kelly replied: “He said he lost it”.
Mr Kelly said he had been in a relationship with Pauline Matthew’s daughter, Ciara, for about two and a half years at that time and would have known Pauline and Mick through his relationship with her. He said Mr Mulvey was “sound”.
The witness said he saw Mr Mulvey a number of times between November 15 and the day he passed away. He said Mr Mulvey had shown him his right-hand side which was “all black and blue”.
“He was in a bad way,” the witness said. “You could clearly see he was in a lot of pain”.
Mr Kelly said he was in the deceased’s house the evening before he passed away, and he was complaining about pain in his side.
The jury also viewed CCTV footage from the Halfway House Pub and various other locations in the area in the minutes before the alleged assault and footage in the pub following the alleged incident on November 14th.
In her opening address to the jury last week, Ms Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, said there was "bad blood" between Ian Connaghan and the deceased Michael Mulvey. Ms Rowland said that Ian Connaghan attacked Mr Mulvey near 'The Halfway House Pub' and left him on the ground after they had a confrontation on the Navan Road in west Dublin.
The deceased, she said, was subsequently given "a severe beating" at a roundabout by Ian and his older brother Daniel Connaghan who had arrived in his car.
The brothers have also pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Mulvey at the Navan Road almost two weeks earlier on November 14th, 2019.
They have further pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Mulvey on the same occasion.
