A man who stabbed his friend and neighbour “in boiling blood” after being kicked out of his apartment has been convicted of murder.
The jury, who also heard that Patrick Murphy told gardaí “I am responsible. I was in fear so I picked up the knife”, rejected the defendant’s case that he was provoked.
The 12 jurors at the Central Criminal Court deliberated for just two hours and two minutes before returning the unanimous verdict on Thursday against Murphy (52) who had accepted that he killed his friend, Joseph Brosnan.
Mr Murphy, of no fixed abode, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Brosnan, at Abbey Court, Tralee, on May 22nd, 2022.
The trial heard that the deceased man had lived in an apartment at Abbey Court. He had previously worked in a direct provision centre on the outskirts of town and there he met and befriended Polish national Kamil Lisowski.
Mr Brosnan helped Mr Lisowski settle in and move from apartment to apartment and they became good friends, prosecution counsel Patrick Gageby SC told the jury.
On the date in question, Mr Lisowski finished work at about a quarter to eight in the morning and called on his friend Mr Brosnan.
Mr Gageby said drink was taken and the pair sat and watched television together.
At around 3pm that afternoon, Mr Murphy called over to Mr Brosnan’s home. Further drinking took place in the house which resulted in some insult passing between Mr Lisowski and Mr Murphy, counsel told the jury.
“It fizzled out but not before Mr Lisowski had slapped Mr Murphy in the face,” said Mr Gageby.
Things calmed down and people shook hands but the matter “welled up again” and Patrick Murphy was asked to leave.
The barrister said at around a quarter to seven that evening, Patrick Murphy returned and apologised. He said the jury will hear that Mr Murphy was “pushed out vigorously” of the apartment and fell to the ground outside.
A short time later Mr Brosnan opened the door to Mr Murphy again and told the accused to go.
Counsel said Mr Murphy was “armed with quite a large kitchen knife and used it to stab Mr Brosnan”.
The deceased was stabbed three times, with a a second stab wound to Mr Brosnan’s back proving fatal because it penetrated the pericardial sac around the deceased’s heart which caused massive bleeding and resulted in death occurring “fairly rapidly”.
Counsel said Mr Brosnan “was well aware that he was seriously injured and announced to Mr Lisowski: ‘I’m dying’”.
“Ambulance and gardaí were called but unfortunately he [Mr Brosnan] died in his apartment lying on his sofa,” said Mr Gageby.
The prosecution case was that Murphy had “a clear intention to kill or cause serious injury”.
The jury also heard from a number of gardaí, including Garda James Fairbrother who spoke to Mr Murphy at the scene.
Murphy told the garda that he was “a peacemaker and he didn’t know who had stabbed the deceased”.
When he was arrested and interviewed, Murphy suggested that the victim had possibly suffered a seizure before eventually admitting that he had brought a knife to the scene and that he had stabbed Mr Brosnan.
Outlining a summary of the evidence in the case on Wednesday, trial judge Mr Justice Paul Burns reminded the jury that they had heard evidence from residents who said they heard arguing from the vicinity of Mr Brosnan’s apartment, with one woman saying she saw Murphy holding a knife in his hand.
The woman said Murphy “wasn’t in this world”, as his eyes were “real big” and he looked confused.
Another witness said she heard glass breaking and saw a man with a rock and a knife, while further evidence was given by a waitress from a nearby restaurant, who said she could see and hear a man shouting and screaming at the door of the apartment, describing him as “going psychotic”.
Kamil Lisowski also gave evidence to the trial, telling the jury that Murphy had come to the door "to revenge" and had stabbed Mr Brosnan “like rapid fire.”
“My best friend was dying in my hands," the eyewitness told the jury.
The jury heard that Murphy told gardaí that he started drinking and taking tablets before numerous scuffles broke out on the day.
“At some stage, I was being beaten. A knife was produced. I was feeling out of it, and I picked up a knife to defend myself. I didn’t mean to stab Joe,” Murphy said in a Garda interview.
Murphy said that the group had been drinking brandy, vodka and wine, while he had also been taking tablets and sharing them around.
“I know it was me. I had the knife. I know I was the one with the knife,” Murphy told gardaí, going on to say that Mr Brosnan was a friend of his all his life.
“Look, I had the knife, I am responsible. I was in fear so I picked up the knife. I don’t remember stabbing Joe, but I must have. I remember jabbing back with the knife,” he said, going on to say that he would not have harmed Mr Brosnan on purpose.
It had been the defence’s case that Murphy was “provoked” into stabbing his daughter’s neighbour “in boiling blood”.
Mr Brendan Grehan SC, for the defence, said witnesses saw Murphy “pacing around” with a knife and a rock in each hand in “an agitated state”. He said Murphy had “acted in boiling blood, in a rage or out of control”.
Mr Grehan said that “something must have happened to cause that to occur” and claimed the causing factor was that he “had the living daylights kicked out of him on the ground”. Mr Grehan suggested that it was Mr Lisowski and possibly Mr Brosnan who hit him on the ground in this instance, driving him into a rage, despite denials of this by Mr Lisowski.
He said “that beating by Mr Lisowski and perhaps Joseph Brosnan was an act of provocation”.
Before beginning their deliberations, Mr Justice Burns told the jury that there were two verdicts open to them, guilty of murder, or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He also said that their verdict must be unanimous.
After the jury of eight men and four women returned their verdict, Mr Justice Burns thanked them for their time and attention during the trial, excusing them from jury service for the next seven years.
The matter was adjourned to December 16th for victim impact statements and sentencing, with Murphy remanded in custody.
