Tralee murder trial: Prosecution senior council makes closing speech to jury 

The men accused of carrying out murder in a cemetery in Tralee ran like rats from a sinking ship after carrying out a wild, brutal and ferocious attack on a father of seven left dead or dying and his widow cleaved in medieval style, a court has heard.

That was how prosecution senior counsel Dean Kelly described it in his closing speech to the jury at the Central Criminal Court today.

“This is a dark honour killing. And there is no honour in it. It is a combination of macabre provincial tragedy and appalling medieval violence.

“It has left behind a widow and seven children in the most pointless, wasteful, needless circumstances. It is ultimately a biblical atrocity of a case – brother killing brother,” Mr Kelly said.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring told the jury at the outset today: “It is not a game of dominoes – one down, all down. You must look at the case against each accused.” 

Mr Kelly agreed and said: “These are six separate trials held together for convenience. What you are asked to decide is whether a person participated and intended at least to cause Thomas Dooley serious harm.” 

Motive

In relation to motive, Mr Kelly said one could look to the garda interviews with Patrick Dooley and what he described as one of the occasions when he was truthful, when he said that his late brother’s relationship was not good with other members of the Dooley family. 

Siobhán Dooley said that the end to a relationship between their daughter and Thomas Dooley Jr. damaged relations between the families back in November 2019.

“Honour was offended. This was a score to be settled in blood. It is as heartbreaking as it is ridiculous and stupid,” Mr Kelly said.

Mr Kelly said the first thing that was known for sure was that Thomas Dooley was brutally murdered. 

“We cannot establish who chopped at his arms, who beat him about the head, who drove a knife into his femoral artery, but the group of men (the accused) sitting behind me participated to cause at least serious harm to Thomas Dooley.

“The suggestion that this was a limited forensic incident is a nonsense, it is carried out in very short order with absolute ferocity… And they ran back to their vans when Thomas Dooley was – if not already dead, then dying.

“We know they travelled there in three different vehicles… We know that within seconds they are speeding out the Castleisland Road and making their escape. They are there, they are present. Even if all six are innocent they were beside it, they could not have been anywhere else – each of these six men is present at the death of Thomas Dooley.” 

The prosecution senior counsel said the cross-examination by the defence of Siobhán Dooley, the deceased man’s widow, had heard “all manner of calumny” of her in what he described as the attack lines of the defence. But he added: “When they are delivered with a barrister’s harrumph they have a certain appeal but when you hold them up to the light they fall away.” 

For instance Mr Kelly referred to the “attack line” that she “spray-painted the Dooleys and to drag them all down regardless of who is guilty or innocent, that she did not care, it was a matter of indifference to her… that she had a terrible hatred of Dooley’s, that she wanted to get as many as possible to get revenge on all Dooley’s, that she had little regard for the truth and wanted to see as many ‘hang’ as possible.” 

Evidence

In terms of specific pieces of evidence he referred to Siobhán Dooley’s evidence of trying to get attackers away from her husband, scraping Thomas Sr’s face and the subsequent recovery of Thomas Sr’s DNA from under her fingernails. Mr Kelly described the long wound to Siobhan’s back and said someone cleaved her medieval style,” and that her description of the attack on her husband was: “They were all around him hitting him with everything they had.” 

Mr Kelly referred to the eyewitness account of Michael Kennedy at the cemetery hearing the shout, ‘Come on now boys’, and then seeing four or five or six men running down the cemetery. Mr Kelly refers to the accused man, Patrick, saying to the jury: “They ran down on his urging and on his order.” 

The prosecution senior counsel said that another witness, Simon O’Driscoll, “named all of the accused men with the exception of (the teenager).” Mr Kelly commented on the fact that none of the defence lawyers had a single question in cross-examination for that witness.

Mr Kelly said the six men, travelling in three vans, left the cemetery and drove in convoy, adding: “These are men working together in the business of murdering Thomas Dooley and in the business of escaping.” 

“The one thing you can say about Patrick and Danny Dooley is that they are joined at the hip at all times, hand in glove, close together – they are in sync. If you are satisfied that Patrick has carried out the murder of his brother the only thing you can say about Danny running directly after him out of the cemetery and into the van is that Danny carried out the murder too. But that is a matter for you.” 

Testimony

Regarding Thomas Sr, he referred to Siobhán Dooley’s testimony that he was saying to her husband lying on the ground: “You are a big man now”. Mr Kelly commented: “There is something bloodcurdling about those words in the last moments of his life.” 

And he referred to Siobhán Dooley’s evidence that “Patrick is grinning” when this comment was made by Thomas Sr..

The prosecution lawyer said Michael and Daniel were questioned by gardaí and “when asked to account for their presence in Rath cemetery they had no response.” 

He said they did not “deserve a free pass from what happened in Rath cemetery.” 

He said Thomas Dooley Jr’s runner has the blood of the dead man. He said the teenager’s tracksuit pants has the dead man’s blood and Patrick Dooley’s blood. 

Regarding the teenager, Mr Kelly said: “He has lost the forensic Lotto in a spectacular way.” 

Regarding both Thomas Jr. and the teenager, he said: “Their decision to place their van where they placed it in the getaway train is devastating evidence of intention as they prepared themselves to carry out this crime.” 

The murder trial is taking place before Ms Justice Ring and a jury of two women and twelve men (including two substitute jurors). 

Accused

All six of the accused who are on trial deny the charge of murdering 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 Sr., 43, from the halting site, Carrigrohane Road; Thomas Jr., 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 Jr. faces the second charge that he intentionally or recklessly caused serious harm to Siobhán Dooley, the wife of the deceased man. He also denies this count.