The severed ties between two Traveller clans resulted from a young lady’s refusal to marry a young man from the opposing tribe, divulged a widow in the ongoing murder trial of six men accused of taking her husband’s life during a funeral in Kerry. Siobhán Dooley recounted how her deceased spouse, Tom Dooley (43), and his relative-cum-brother-in-law, Tom Dooley (43), halted all communication post their daughter’s rejection of a matrimonial proposition from Tom’s son, Thomas Jnr (21). “It never escalated to a heated disagreement – the problems only arose the moment [my daughter] declined to wed Tom Dooley’s child, Thomas (belonging to the Dooleys residing in Carrigrohane Road, Cork) – our relations became non-existent, we didn’t fight or argue, the communication lines just vanished abruptly,” reflected Ms. Dooley.
She divulged this cessation of familial ties, which took place in 2019, while being cross-examined on the third day of the murder trail featuring six men as the accused for killing Tom Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5th, 2022. The group of men on trial comprises Patrick Dooley (36) residing in Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Daniel Dooley (42) from An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Thomas Dooley Jnr (21), Thomas Dooley Snr (43), Michael Dooley (29) of Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and an underage individual whose identity remains undisclosed due to legal protocols.
Assistant State Attorney, Dean Kelly SC, during the initial stages of the case, clarified that all the accused individuals, adamantly denying the murder charges, were part of an extended Traveller family. He further added that one of the men under scrutiny, Patrick Dooley, is ironically being accused of his brother’s homicide while Thomas Dooley Snr, Daniel Dooley, and Michael Dooley, natives of Carrigrohane Road, Cork, are siblings and also cousins of the deceased; Thomas Dooley Snr also held the position of the deceased’s brother-in-law.
The sole defendant facing the charge of causing serious harm to the deceased’s widow, Siobhán Dooley (maiden name McDonagh), is Thomas Dooley Jnr. He is the son of co-accused Thomas Dooley Snr and is also related to the victim, informed Mr Kelly to the jury of 15, comprising 13 men and 2 women.
During cross-examination today, Mr Grehan SC proposed to Ms Dooley that his client, Patrick Dooley had attempted to assist his brother, upon witnessing him being assaulted by some of the Dooley family from Cork. Mr Grehan mentioned that Patrick was unarmed and sustained injuries whilst trying to safeguard his brother, rather than mounting an attack himself.
Ms Dooley firmly refuted this allegation, stating clearly that she watched as Patrick, with whom she was familiar given that he was her spouse’s sibling, joined Thomas Dooley Snr and others in assaulting her husband. This occurred after they had knocked him to the ground at Rath Cemetery.
“He was armed. It could have been a sword, or it could have been a knife, I am uncertain, but it was a bladed weapon,” Ms Dooley confirmed. She added that she had made attempts to forget the details of the horrifying scene as they unfolded right before her eyes.
When Mr Grehan suggested that Ms Dooley might have deliberately misremembered or falsely recounted the events surrounding Patrick’s involvement, she was adamant that her recollection was accurate. She saw Patrick “smiling as he was slashing at my husband.”
Responding to Tom Creed SC, the counsel for Thomas Dooley Snr when asked about the size of the weapon his client used, Ms Dooley emphasised that she wasn’t trying to be “witty or clever” but she hadn’t measured the weapons Thomas was carrying when he attacked her spouse.
On being asked about her husband’s injuries, Ms Dooley confessed she didn’t know the exact number of stab wounds he had. But she distinctly remembered that “Thomas had struck him in the legs and the blood spurted out like a spray”.
The woman reported being felled as she endeavoured to shield her spouse from Tom Dooley. Once floored, she witnessed Tom Dooley and Patrick Dooley assaulting her husband’s legs with weapons and inflicting cuts on him. The legal proceedings are ongoing.