Prosecution claims men ‘flee like rats from a sinking ship’ after ‘dark honour killing’ in Kerry

“This is a dark honour killing. And there is no honour in it. It is a combination of a grisly provincial tragedy and horrific medieval violence. It has left a widow and seven children in the most senseless, wasteful, unnecessary circumstances. It is ultimately a biblical atrocity – brother killing brother,” Mr Kelly said.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring told jurors early Thursday: “This is not a game of dominoes – one down, all down. You have to look at each defendant’s case.”

Mr Kelly agreed and said: “These are six separate trials which have been held together for convenience. You are being asked to decide whether an individual participated in and intended to cause Thomas Dooley, at the very least, serious harm.”

In relation to motive, Mr Kelly said it was possible to look at police interviews with Patrick Dooley and what he described as one of the occasions when he was frank, when he said his late brother’s relationship with other members of the Dooley family had not been good. Siobhán Dooley said the end of the relationship between their daughter and Thomas Dooley Jr had strained the relationship between the families in November 2019.

Mr. Kelly said:

Honor was offended. It was a score to be settled in blood. It is as heartbreaking as it is ridiculous and stupid.

Mr Kelly said the first thing that was known for sure was that Thomas Dooley had been brutally murdered. “We cannot establish who struck him in the arms, who beat him in the head, who stabbed him in the femoral artery, but the group of men (the defendants) sitting behind me contributed to causing Thomas Dooley at least serious harm.

“The suggestion that this was an incident of limited forensic investigation is nonsense, it was carried out in a very short space of time and with absolute ferocity… And they ran back to their vans when Thomas Dooley was, if not already dead, certainly dying.

“We know they were travelling there in three different vehicles… We know they were speeding off Castleisland Road and running away within seconds. They are there, they are present. Even if all six of them are innocent, they were there, they couldn’t have been anywhere else – every single one of those six men is present at the death of Thomas Dooley.”

Senior counsel for the prosecution said that during cross-examination by the defence, Siobhán Dooley, the dead man’s widow, had been heard making “all sorts of slanderous statements” about her in what he described as defence lines of attack. But he added: “When they are delivered with a barrister’s grunt they have a certain charm, but when you hold them up to the light they fall flat.”

For example, Mr. Kelly referred to the “line of attack” that she “spray-painted the Dooleys and dragged them all down, regardless of who was guilty and who was innocent, that she didn’t care, that it was indifferent to her… that she had a terrible hatred of the Dooleys, that she wanted as many of them as possible to get revenge on all the Dooleys, that she had no respect for the truth and wanted as many of them as possible to ‘hang.'”

In terms of specific evidence, he referred to Siobhán’s evidence that she had tried to pull her attackers away from her husband by scraping Thomas Sr’s face and later recovering Thomas Sr’s DNA from under her fingernails. Mr Kelly described a long gash on Siobhan’s back and said: “Someone had split her open medieval style” and her description of the attack on her husband was that “they were all around him hitting him with everything they had”.

Mr. Kelly referred to an eyewitness account, Michael Kennedy, who was in the cemetery and heard a cry of, “Come on, lads, come on,” and then saw four, five or six men running down the cemetery. Mr. Kelly referred to the accused man, Patrick, telling the jury, “They ran at his urging and at his command.”

Senior counsel for the prosecution said another witness, Simon O’Driscoll, “gave the names of all the male defendants except (the teenager).” Mr Kelly commented on the fact that none of the defence lawyers had a single question for that witness during cross-examination.

Mr Kelly said six men travelling in three vans left the cemetery and travelled in a convoy, adding:

These are men working together to murder Thomas Dooley and escape.

“One thing you can say about Patrick and Danny Dooley is that they’re always joined at the hip, hand in hand, close together—they’re in sync. If you’re convinced that Patrick murdered his brother, the only thing you can say about Danny, who ran after him out of the cemetery and into the van, is that Danny also committed murder. But that’s your case.”

In relation to Thomas Sr., he referred to Siobhán’s evidence that he had said to her husband as he lay on the ground, “You’re a big man now.” Mr. Kelly commented: “There’s something chilling about those words in the last moments of his life.”

He also referred to Siobhán’s testimony that “Patrick was smiling” when Thomas Sr. made that comment.

The prosecution barrister said Michael and Daniel were questioned by gardaí and “when asked to explain their presence at Rath Cemetery, they had no answer”. He said they “do not deserve a free pass from what happened at Rath Cemetery”.

He said Thomas Dooley Jr.’s jogger had the blood of the deceased on it. He said the teenager’s sweatpants had the blood of the deceased on them and Patrick Dooley’s blood on them. As for the teenager, Mr. Kelly said: “He lost the forensic lottery in spectacular fashion.”

Referring to Thomas Jr. and the teen, he said: “Their decision to park the van in that location on the train they were escaping on is devastating evidence of their intent as they prepared to commit this crime.”

Fees

The murder trial is taking place before Mr Justice Ring and a jury of two women and 12 men (including two alternate jurors). All six defendants on trial deny the murder of Tom Dooley, 43, of Hazelwood Drive, Killarney, at New Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, on October 5, 2022.

The five defendants in the case – all surnamed Dooley – Patrick, 36, of Arbutus Grove, Killarney; Thomas Sr, 43, of Carrigrohane Road, Car Park; Thomas Jr, 21, of Carrigrohane Road, Cork; Michael, 29, of Carrigrohane Road, Car Park, Cork, and Daniel, 42, of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry, are on trial, as is a sixth defendant, who is in his late teens.

Only Thomas Dooley Jr., 21, faces a second charge that he intentionally or unintentionally caused serious harm to Siobhán Dooley, the dead man’s wife. He also denies that charge.