A JURY HAS begun deliberating this morning in the trial of five family members and a teenager accused of murdering father-of-seven Thomas ‘Tom’ Dooley in “an honour killing” during a Co Kerry funeral.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring concluded her charge on Tuesday evening to members of the enlarged jury panel in the Central Criminal Court trial of the six men.

15 jurors were sworn at the start of the trial but two were excused for various reasons during the case. Ms Justice Ring yesterday (TUES) discharged the 13th juror bringing the number to the required 12, comprising ten men and two women.

The 12 jurors can return two verdicts in relation to the murder charge against the six men namely; guilty of murder or an outright acquittal. 

Before sending the jury out to begin their deliberations at 10.41am this morning Ms Justice Ring asked them to be unanimous in their verdict. “Over to you at this stage,” she told them. 

In her charge to the 13 jurors over four days, Ms Justice Ring told them that if they find that any of the accused men were involved in the attack and knew their co-accused was carrying a weapon, then they are guilty of murder.  

“If you are satisfied that each of these men knew there were knives or bladed weapons and they involved themselves in the attack, then they were all participating in the murder,” she said to the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting at Cork Courthouse, Anglesea Street.  

It is the State’s case that Mr Dooley (43) died when he was violently attacked as he attended a funeral in Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5, 2022, and suffered what the prosecution has described as savage injuries, inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with “focused and murderous ferocity”.  

The trial heard that the deceased suffered a total of four stabbing injuries following an incident in the Kerry graveyard, one of which severed the femoral artery in his leg and caused him to suffer a fatal blood loss.  

The younger brother of the late Mr Dooley, Patrick Dooley (36) with an address at Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Mr Dooley’s cousin Thomas Dooley Senior (43) and that man’s son, Thomas Dooley Junior (21), along with Michael Dooley (29), all of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork as well as Daniel Dooley (42) of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry, and a male teenager have all pleaded not (NOT) guilty to murdering 43-year-old Mr Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5, 2022.  

Thomas Dooley Jnr is also charged with assault causing harm to the wife of the late Mr Dooley, Siobhán Dooley at Rath Cemetery on the same date. He has pleaded not guilty in respect of this count also.  

Siobhan Dooley required 45 stitches and 30 staples after sustaining a wound during the attack, which went from her right shoulder and extended to her armpit.  

In her charge to the jury, Ms Justice Ring said the prosecution contended that an intention to kill or cause serious harm was in place at least from the morning the accused left their homes and that all of them knew they were joining others in an attack.

Ms Justice Ring said the prosecution argued that the accused had bladed weapons, that each accused knew that their co-accused had these weapons, and they used these weapons in the attack.

However, she pointed out that no weapon was found that links any of the accused to the death, although a machete was found and there were injuries consistent with the use of bladed instruments.   

The judge also reminded the jury that there was no allegation to suggest Mr Dooley himself was in possession of a bladed weapon, nor any suggestion of violence on his part or evidence that there was some kind of event taking place that he somehow got caught up in and got injured.  

Moving on to the legal issue of joint participation in the charge, the judge said that for any of the accused to be convicted of murder, each must be found to have assisted the commission of the crime and must have intended by their actions to assist.  

“If you are satisfied that each of these men knew there were knives or bladed weapons and they involved themselves in the attack, then they were all participating in the murder,” said Ms Justice Ring, adding that if the jury was not sure if all of the accused were in possession of a weapon, the law says that if an accused person knew that their co-accused was carrying a weapon, they knew that he intended to act to cause murder or serious injury.  

Ms Justice Ring said that if the jury was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that one or more of the accused was either there or there with the necessary intentions, then the jury must look at each accused individually and make decisions based on each of the accused.  

In his closing speech to the jury, Dean Kelly SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted that “honour” had been offended when a relationship between the daughter of the deceased Thomas ‘Tom’ Dooley and one of the accused men had “broken down”.  

Mr Kelly said the State had based its case against all six accused on the doctrine of joint enterprise and common design, where a number of persons act together to achieve a common criminal objective and that each person party to the plan is criminally responsible for the acts of the other.  

The lawyer told the court that it could not be established who drove the knife into Mr Dooley’s back or who chopped into his arm or who drove the knife through his thigh. He said it was not precisely known who had performed those acts.

However, he said the group of accused men sitting behind him in the courtroom had participated to cause at least serious harm to Mr Dooley and had done so with murderous intent.