‘They were hitting him with everything,’ widow of Thomas Dooley tells Kerry murder trial

One of the men on trial for murdering 43-year-old Tom Dooley is his 36-year-old brother Patrick. Siobhán recalled Patrick at the cemetery that morning: “He was grinning, ‘you’re a big boy now’.” 

Siobhán Dooley gave her evidence to prosecution senior counsel Dean Kelly on Wednesday and she will later face cross-examination by senior counsel for each of the six accused.

Married for 24 years, she and her late husband had seven children, the four youngest being with them on the day of the funeral in Tralee in October 2023. They missed the church and drove directly from their home in Killarney to Rath Cemetery in Tralee that morning.

She said her husband was ahead of her in the cemetery that morning around 11am when she saw him being approached by his brother Patrick and his brother-in-law, Tom Dooley — referred to in the trial as Thomas Dooley Snr.

“They were actually grinning. Tom had a coat on him. He was taking it off him and he was grinning. I saw something in his hand. I said to my husband to run. He said, ‘No, why should I run? I have nothing to run for.’ 

“I saw Tom with something in his hand. I saw him with two weapons in his hands. One was kind of shiny and looked to be new. The other had a bit of rust on it. I think one had a kind of round top on it, the other was kind of a big chunk of a yoke… Tom said, ‘You’re a big man now.’ Patrick was grinning. He had another weapon. I don’t know what sort it was.” 

The witness said the teenager in the trial had “something long in his hands. He had it over his head, like something you’d see in an Indian movie. It was kind of like an axe thing.” 

She said: “Patrick and (Thomas Snr) grabbed him by his two collars… Mike, my husband’s first cousin, had a weapon in his hand. He was standing behind my husband. I knew they were going to do him harm. I saw the weapons. I tried to squeeze in between them. I knew I had no hope… All I could do was start scraping (Thomas snr’s) face and eyes to get him away from my husband.

“I heard one of them saying, ‘Take her out too – get rid of her’. I got another bang. I was pegged to the ground. They were all gathered around. He (her late husband) turned his head and said, ‘Run, just run’.

They were hitting him with everything. They were hitting him with weapons. Blood was squirting everywhere. They started laughing, ‘You’re a big man now’.

“They were actually pushing each other to get in at him. I remember one of them pushing (another) back. ‘Shove over, give me a chance, give me a go’,” she testified. Back at Kelleher’s garage shop she saw a garda and screamed to get help, saying: “They are going to kill him.” 

The trial continues before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork. The jury, including three substitute members, consists of 13 men and two women.

The defendants all replied not guilty to the murder of 43-year-old Tom Dooley from Hazelwood Drive, Killarney, at New Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, on October 5, 2022.

Five defendants in the case — all with the surname Dooley — Patrick, 36, from Arbutus Grove, Killarney; Thomas, 43, from the halting site, Carrigrohane Road; Thomas Jnr, 21, from the halting site, Carrigrohane, Cork; Michael, 29, of the halting site, Carrigrohane, Cork, and Daniel, 42, of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, County Kerry, are on trial, as is the sixth defendant who is a teenager.

Only 21-year-old Thomas Dooley Jnr faces the second charge that he intentionally or recklessly caused serious harm to Siobhán Dooley, the wife of the deceased man. There was also a not guilty plea in respect of this count.