The prosecution barrister, Dean Kelly SC, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, has described an alleged “honour killing” of a seven-child father at a funeral, as a case of unconscionable “medieval violence”, which he claimed was as “gut-wrenchingly sad and utterly stupid” as it was “terrifyingly brutal and foolish”. The incident took place in Co Kerry and involved six individuals accused of murder.
Kelly delivered his final remarks at the Central Criminal Court trial of five adult men and one teenager, held in Cork; he asserted that the attackers felt dishonoured after a romantic relationship between the victim, Thomas ‘Tom’ Dooley, and one of the defendants ended.
The prosecution argued that the trial revealed a horrifying mix of the grotesque, tragic, and shockingly brutal medieval-style aggression. The case illustrated a biblical-style horror where a brother maliciously killed his sibling. However, beneath the sensational aspects of the incident lay the tragic reality of a bereaved widow left to care for their seven children alone under utterly senseless, tragic and avoidable conditions, Kelly contended.
According to the State, Mr Dooley was brutally assaulted whilst attending a Tralee funeral on October 5th, 2022, resulting in what the prosecution termed as cruel and highly severe injuries. Mr Dooley was allegedly attacked by a group wielding sharp-edged weapons, demonstrating a “purposeful and killer intensity”.
The court was informed that the victim received four separate stabs, one of which cut through the femoral artery in his leg, inducing a fatal hemorrhage. The jury was told by state pathologist, Dr Sally Anne Collis, that some of these woundings could have been caused by a weapon akin to a machete.
The younger sibling of the late Mr Dooley – Patrick Dooley, aged 36 from Arbutus Grove, Killarney, along with his cousin Thomas Dooley Snr, 43, and his son Thomas Dooley Jnr, 21, plus 29-year-old Michael Dooley – all residents of the Halting Site on Cork’s Carrigrohane Road, as well as 42-year-old Daniel Dooley of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry and a young male, all reject the accusation of killing 43-year-old Mr Thomas Dooley in Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on the fifth of October, 2022.
There is also a charge against Thomas Dooley Jnr for grievously injuring Siobhán Dooley – the late Mr Dooley’s spouse – at the same cemetery on the same day, to which he also enters a plea of not guilty.
Following the attack, Ms Dooley had a significant injury requiring medical attention that involved the use of 45 stitches and 30 staples. The wound started from her right shoulder and went down to her armpit.
In his final address to the members of the jury, Mr Kelly proposed that there was clear evidence of premeditation in this case as the weapons employed by the accused could not have conveniently found their way unassisted into the Tralee graveyard. Approval to participate in a fatal attack, he explained, does not necessitate preplanning but can be made spontaneously.
Mr Kelly speculated that the motives at the heart of the case seemed pretty apparent. He contended it was due to the upsetting termination of a youthful liaison. The relationship was between teenagers and had ended, leading to what some could term an “honour killing”.
Evidence from the late Mr Dooley’s wife during the proceedings revealed a severed connection between her kin and the family of Thomas Dooley Snr after her daughter refused a marriage proposal from Thomas Dooley Jnr.
Ms Dooley relayed to the court that following her daughter’s refusal, there was no spat or any bickering between her now-deceased spouse Thomas and the latter’s cousin and brother-in-law, Thomas Dooley Snr. They just ceased all communication.
Mr Kelly addressed the court today, expressing that the “honour” had been slighted, which necessitated a revenge of sorts, a course of action he labelled as not just tragic and heartrending, but absurd and mindless. He proceeded to explain that the State’s case against the six individuals indicted rested on the concept of collective culpability and congruent intent, pointing out that every conspirator involved in achieving the malevolent aim was legally accountable for the actions of the others.
Mr Kelly shared with the court his doubt regarding the identification of the individual who stabbed Mr Dooley on his back, inflicted a slash on his arm, or drove a knife through his thigh. Acknowledging the lack of certainty surrounding who carried out these specific actions, Mr Kelly however, maintained that the group of men on trial were complicit in inflicting at least severe harm upon Mr Dooley and did so with a motive to kill.
Following up on the disturbing events that transpired, the court learnt of a woman’s injuries, which required 45 stitches and 30 staples post a graveyard assault that resulted in her husband’s death. Mr Kelly pointed out that this act of violence was conducted with ‘unadulterated brutality’, all within a span of a few seconds, not minutes. The horrifying tale painted by Mr Kelly showed Mr Dooley succumbing to his injuries or possibly already dead while the accused men hurried away from the dreaded cemetery scene. Within moments following the grisly assault, all six men returned to their parked vans and darted off rapidly.
In the aftermath of Mr Dooley’s murder, the behaviour of the defendants was peculiar and dubious, a sentiment that was in no way an overstatement, especially in the case of Patrick Dooley, the deceased’s brother.
Mr Kelly went on to relay Ms Dooley’s testimony to the jury, wherein she spoke of her arrival at the cemetery and how the man nearest to her was Thomas Dooley Snr, the father of her daughter’s potential betrothed. Ms Dooley described the unsettling image of Thomas Dooley Snr producing two weapons, one tarnished, the other gleaming, from under his coat while the deceased’s brother and Patrick Dooley grinned in the backdrop. She confessed to warning her ill-fated husband to flee and noted two men leading the group with others trailing behind.
Mr. Kelly stated that all Ms. Dooley could do at that time was to protect her husband by deflecting them, hence she took on and ‘snatched’ at Thomas Dooley Snr. Later, traces of Thomas Dooley Snr’s genetic makeup were extracted from beneath Ms Dooley’s nails. “Is there any plausible justification for this?” the lawyer queried.
He claimed her spouse was brutally assaulted and lay helpless on the turf, and yet, Ms Dooley was able to make a deliberate effort to obtain DNA by scraping Thomas Dooley Snr’s countenance.
He remarked that the victim had a symbolic bullseye attached to him and the group of six implicated were at the burial ground that day to perpetrate a savage onslaught. He characterised Mr. Dooley as the “quarry” at that instance, becoming the focal point of the mission a mere 37 seconds post his entry into the cemetery.
Describing the occurrence as an unmistakable grim example of an “honour killing,” the prosecutor suggested that it bore the hallmarks of the grotesque, a local calamity, and horrifying primitive aggression.
In the end, the lawyer stated, this was an abhorrent incident reminiscent of ancient lore where one sibling took the life of another sibling. Despite these intense descriptions, what truly remained was a bereaved man with seven offspring left in the wake of completely unnecessary, fruitless, and pointless circumstances.
Patrick Dooley’s defence authority, Brendan Grehan SC, is set to present his closing remarks to the panel of 14 jurors comprising 12 men and two women this coming Friday.