THE STATE HAS asked a murder trial jury to consider whether law professor Diarmuid Phelan lost his temper and overreacted having “reached the end of his tether” due to repeated criminal acts on his property when he pulled a revolver from his pocket and fired it at a trespasser on his farm. 

In her closing speech, Roisin Lacey SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the Central Criminal Court jury that the deceased Keith Conlon was not on trial for his criminal behaviour for badger baiting or for the morality of bolting foxes or blooding dogs. 

Earlier today, the prosecution asked in their closing address how Mr Phelan had “made the leap” from what they argue was a “purely verbal” conflict to a position where he felt the only option was to produce a lethal weapon and point it in the direction of a trespasser on his farm.

“At the very least the action was a disproportionate and excessive response in relation to what was facing him,” said Ms Lacey.

The jury has heard that on the day in question three men – the deceased Keith Conlon, along with Kallum Coleman and Robin Duggan – had trespassed on a wooded area of Mr Phelan’s land while hunting foxes or badgers.

Evidence has been given that Mr Phelan had shouted at two of the unarmed trespassers on his farm to “get back” before he fired three shots from his Smith & Wesson revolver.

It is the State’s case that two of the three shots were fired into the air, while the third connected with Mr Conlon.

It is also the prosecution’s case that when the third shot was fired by Mr Phelan, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave.

It is in those circumstances, the prosecution says, that the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Conlon.

It is the defence’s position that Mr Phelan accidentally hit Mr Conlon while firing three “warning shots”.

Mr Phelan (56) has pleaded not guilty to murdering father-of-four Keith ‘Bono’ Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on 24 February, 2022.

The accused man is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove, formerly a golf course in Tallaght.

Farm hands

Addressing the jury in her closing speech today, Ms Lacey said that the evidence of four farmhands who worked at Hazelgrove had “withheld scrutiny”.

Counsel told the jurors they could see from Mr Phelan’s garda interviews that he appeared to have expressed “some kind of difficulty” with one or two of the farmhands’ evidence.

“It struck me that the accused’s difficulty was with the ones that gave evidence of him pointing the gun towards Mr Conlon,” she added.

Referring to the evidence given by the first agricultural worker Pierre Godreu, Ms Lacey said he had described the fighting that took place between the accused and the trespassers at the bunker area as “oral”.

She said Mr Godreu told the jury that Mr Phelan had taken a gun from his pocket and shot in the air.

Ms Lacey said the gun was taken out fairly rapidly as soon as Mr Conlon and Mr Coleman didn’t do what Mr Phelan had asked them to do, which was to leave the farm.

Counsel said the gun was fired by the accused as quickly as it came out of his pocket.

“There doesn’t appear to be any gap between the taking of the gun from his pocket and the commencement of the firing,” she continued.

She said Mr Godreu had given evidence that the first two shots were fired by the accused in the air, but had described the third and fatal shot as being “fired differently in terms of direction”. She said the witness maintained the third shot was shot towards one of the strangers.

The lawyer told the jurors that if they accepted Mr Godreu’s evidence, then this had a very significant impact on any assertion by the accused that the death was an unexpected result or an accident.

“It dovetails with what the prosecution say: that there was an intention to fire two shots in the air and then turn the gun towards the deceased,” she continued.

Counsel told the jurors that if a person fires a gun towards someone having changed direction, then they are presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of their actions and it was indicative of an intention to kill or cause serious injury.

She also reminded the jury of the evidence of farmhand Hannah Felgner, who said lambing sheep on the property were “nowhere near” the wooded area where the altercation between Mr Phelan and the trespassers had “kicked off” with the killing of Mr Conlon’s dog.

Ms Lacey said Ms Felgner’s evidence was quite clear that Mr Conlon and Mr Coleman were upset at the dog being killed, that they were going to call gardai and that they would get Mr Phelan charged for killing the dog.

Counsel commented that Ms Felgner at no stage said she heard the two trespassers make any threat to Mr Phelan’s own physical wellbeing.

Ms Lacey asked the jury to consider whether Mr Phelan had heard those words or whether he was blinded by past experience and his “deep rooted conception – an inaccurate one – that he was going to be attacked”.

“Was the accused so rooted in that type of behaviour that he couldn’t hear the words ‘We are going to call the gardai and have you charged for what you have done’?” asked counsel.

Ms Lacey said that the two trespassers wanted answers and to know why Mr Phelan had killed the dog.

“Yes, they were upset and irritated; but can you say there was some kind of physically violent intent in their minds in relation to that?” she asked.

She suggested to the jury that this was a situation where the two trespassers were upset and wanted answers but that they were not intent on physical violence.

The barrister pointed to the account of Ms Felgner, who said that she hadn’t felt threatened by the men and that it was a purely verbal conflict. Ms Lacey said it was also the prosecution’s position that this was a verbal conflict.

Counsel went on to ask how had Mr Phelan made the leap from “a verbal conflict to a position where he felt the only option was to pull out a lethal weapon from his pocket and point it in the direction of Mr Conlon”.

“At the very least the action was a disproportionate and excessive response in relation to what was facing him,” she stressed.

Ms Lacey recalled Ms Felgner had said that Mr Phelan out of nowhere pulled out a small gun and shot into the air, whilst he was screaming “keep your distance”.

 She said at the very tail end of a 999-call made by the accused one can hear his voice going from a much lower register to screaming. “In that split second, did he suddenly lose control, was he out of control, hysterical?” she asked.

Counsel said when Ms Felgner was asked about the two men’s reaction, the witness said the men had turned around after the first shot and started to run away.

She said on Ms Felgner’s version Mr Conlon had his back to the accused when he was shot in the head.

The lawyer said whether it was one or two shots that had been fired, Ms Felgner was emphatic that the turn by the two men had happened before the third fatal shot. 

Ms Lacey said a State pathologist had testified that the gunshot wound was to the back of the deceased’s head. 

She said the evidence of the third farmhand, Alexandra Fernandes, accorded with Ms Felgner’s evidence at the time the deceased man fell from the gunshot.

The final agricultural worker Julien Roudaut, she said, testified that the accused was shooting towards the man but in the air and that this was the man who the witness had described as having turned his back to the accused.

Kallum Colemand and Keith Conlon

Ms Lacey said when she opened the case she had told the jury that they would hear from Kallum Coleman but that they hadn’t. “He didn’t attend, he left the country,” she added.

The trial has heard that key witness Mr Coleman was last seen in Spain. He agreed to return to Ireland to give evidence but the jury heard he had “a change of heart” and “legged it” whilst gardai stopped to get refreshments en route to a Spanish airport.

Potentially, Ms Lacey said, Mr Coleman had important evidence to give but she warned the jury not to speculate about the absence of his evidence.

She said they couldn’t speculate on what he might or might not have said as this was “incredibly dangerous”.

“I anticipate the defence will address you in closing, why hadn’t he come to vindicate the deceased; be extremely careful about any such suggestions,” she warned.

She said the jury had been asked to consider Mr Conlon’s 2010 conviction for assaulting a garda by kicking him in the head but told them this was of no relevance to what happened on the farm on 22 February, 2022.

She said Mr Conlon had no business being on the accused’s land on 22 February, that he was a trespasser and had not been invited there.

She said he was breaking the law as it would appear he was engaged in badger baiting. At its height, she said, it showed Mr Conlon had an interest in hunting, part of which was illegal.

Videos

During the trial the jury viewed “upsetting and difficult” animal attack videos taken from Mr Conlon’s phone, which also included footage of dogs being “trained” to attack a live kitten.

In the video clips, the lurcher dog shot by the accused is seen fighting over a live squirrel, mauling a badger and shaking a dead fox between its teeth.

Ms Lacey described the videos today as graphic, grotesque and in some instances criminal as they involved badger baiting.

She said that watching these videos would inspire a “pretty visceral reaction” but submitted that this was not a case about emotion or sympathy for an animal or person. She told the jurors to be extremely careful with this type of material.

Mr Conlon, she said, was not on trial for his criminal behaviour for badger baiting or for the morality of bolting foxes or blooding dogs.

She said Mr Conlon’s dog Vin was trained to kill animal prey, but it was not disputed that the animal had been tethered to a tree when he was shot by the accused.

She warned the jurors not to let the videos sidetrack them by way of exciting emotion or prejudice in relation to the two trespassers.

The central issue, she said, was Mr Phelan’s intent in relation to the third shot at the time Mr Conlon died.

She asked the jurors to be very careful about a potential suggestion from the defence that the two trespassers were “bloodthirsty, completely pumped up and had become incredibly aggressive” towards Mr Phelan because the prize of the badger had been taken away from them.

“These are a number of very significant leaps you are being asked to make in that regard”.

‘The end of his tether’  

Ms Lacey told the jury that they had heard about a “wide gamut” of offences by people coming onto Mr Phelan’s land, including theft, criminal damage, arson, illegal dumping and littering.

She added: “I have no doubt that Mr Phelan was mithered by that sort of activity. Who wouldn’t be, and who wouldn’t have the greatest sympathy for him.”

On the morning of the shooting, Ms Lacey said the accused was having a gate repaired following another act of criminal damage, despite having taken all precautions that gardai had suggested to him to protect his property.

Ms Lacey added: “It’s a valid question. Had he simply had enough? Had he just reached the end of his tether?”

She asked the jury to consider whether “all that background of criminality on his property” was influencing him when he discharged his revolver.

While counsel said she did not want to minimise Mr Conlon’s aggressive tone and language, she said it is clear that before the fatal shot was fired, Mr Conlon had turned to go.

She added: “There is nothing in the context of that encounter that could have led Mr Phelan to believe he was presented with such a threat of force as to lawfully justify his action to produce a concealed weapon from his pocket and fire it repeatedly in the direction of or towards Mr Conlon.”

She said the jury might find it “odd” that Mr Phelan denied that he lost his temper or overreacted when being interviewed by gardai. 

She again reminded the jury of the evidence of Hannah Felgner, who said that Mr Phelan went from calm to threatening, whereas Mr Phelan told gardai he was “stressed, terrified, shaking, scared shitless and fearful”.

Ms Lacey asked if they believed that, or if the accused was angry and enraged with “adrenaline coursing through him”.  

She added: “Was he overreacting in those split seconds when he pulled the revolver out of nowhere and discharged it?”

Ms Lacey said the evidence does not support Mr Phelan’s claim during his garda interviews that he was afraid of being “beaten to a pulp”.

 She reminded the jury that neither Mr Conlon nor his companions had any weapons and there was no suggestion Mr Phelan thought they had.

In his 999 calls to gardai before the shooting, the accused did not mention anything about weapons, Ms Lacey concluded. 

The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women, when the prosecution will continue giving their closing address.