Guilty: Mountjoy prisoner murdered fellow inmate after 'luring' him into his cell, court hears

A Mountjoy prisoner has been convicted of murdering a fellow inmate after a jury agreed with the prosecution case that he had "lured" him into his cell, knocked him to the ground and stamped on his head in a "vicious and unprovoked" assault.The jury of nine men and three women at the Central Criminal Court took a little less than three hours to return a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder against David Dunne (40), with a last address in Summerhill, Dublin 1.Dunne had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Robert O’Connor on the 29th of July 2022 at Mountjoy Prison, North Circular Road, Dublin 7. He claimed he did not intend to kill Mr O'Connor and the jury was asked to consider whether he had an honest belief that he was acting in self-defence when he caused multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the deceased's head, torso, arms and legs.

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A pathologist's report and neuropathology exam revealed that the blows to Mr O'Connor's head caused his brain to rotate, which led to the tearing of nerve cells. The injuries were consistent with stamping, punching or kicking.

Members of Mr O'Connor's family broke down in tears and embraced one another when the verdict was revealed. Dunne will face the mandatory term of life imprisonment when he is sentenced on December 16, after Mr O'Connor's family have had a chance to speak about the impact the murder has had on their lives.

In a brief statement following the jury's verdict, a garda involved in the investigation told the court that Mr O'Connor was born in the UK to an Irish father and English mother. The family returned to Ireland when Mr O'Connor was a small child. He has one half-brother and a half-sister, while his mother died in 2008.

When he died, Mr O'Connor had been in a relationship for one year. His death, the garda said, has had a "dramatic and serious" effect on his girlfriend's health.

The jury heard that 32-year-old Robert O'Connor received a prison sentence on July 27, 2022, and was returned from court to Mountjoy that evening. At approximately 7pm, Mr O’Connor was assaulted in his cell by a number of other prisoners, where he suffered a bloody nose and damage to one eye.

Following the assault, Mr O’Connor was placed in protection for a period and was moved to C landing.

Two days later he walked to the C2 landing of the prison where CCTV footage showed him entering Dunne's cell followed by Dunne and three other men.

Prison officers quickly reacted when they heard a commotion and one told the trial that he saw Dunne stamping more than once on Mr O'Connor's head, while another officer saw the defendant kicking the victim in the head.

The victim was taken to hospital but he was pronounced dead on August 1 when brain stem testing revealed no activity.

Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told the trial that Mr O'Connor died from multiple blunt force trauma type injuries associated with bruises and abrasions on his head, trunk, legs and arms. He had also suffered a fractured nose.

Dr Mulligan said the blunt force trauma caused rotational force which led to a tearing of the nerve cells in the brain. She added: "The skull is a rigid structure, so if there is impact the brain will move within this rigid structure but doesn't have a lot of room to move, so that rotation of the brain will cause the nerve cells to get torn or shorn from the rotational force."

The injury, she said, could have been caused by stamping, punching or kicking.

In his first garda interview, the accused read from a prepared statement in which he said: “I’m sorry for his family, I really am. I think about it every day and night since this happened. It’s killing me inside because he was a good friend of all who knew him. I’m really sorry Robbie yeah to you and your family,” he said.

He claimed that he just wanted a chat with Mr O'Connor but once they were inside the cell, Mr O'Connor punched him twice. He initially admitted only to punching back and denied stamping on Mr O'Connor's head. He said he didn't want to kill Mr O'Connor and claimed to have struck him with a "rabbit punch". The prosecution argued Dunne's final account "evolved" until in his final interview, counsel said Dunne demonstrated a "stamp" that it was submitted could easily have caused the injuries sustained by Mr O'Connor.

In his closing speech, prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC described Dunne's account as "self-serving" and lacking in credibility. He accused Dunne of a "vicious and unprovoked assault" and said CCTV evidence suggested "an element of coordination" in the interactions visible between Mr Dunne and three other prisoners in the minutes before the fatal encounter.

Counsel said the footage suggested that when Mr O'Connor arrived on Dunne's wing of the prison, the accused signalled to one of those prisoners. Once Mr O'Connor and the accused went inside the accused's cell, Mr Delaney said the others followed as if they "knew something was going down".

Mr Delaney said the CCTV undermined Dunne's claim that he invited the deceased to his cell for a "friendly chat" or that he acted in self-defence after being attacked by the deceased. "The objective, reliable evidence shows he [the accused] lured Robert O'Connor into that cell for the purpose of attacking him," Mr Delaney said.

Brendan Grehan SC, for Dunne, said the killing was not intentional or planned but was "in fact a reaction" without any premeditation. He asked the jury to return a verdict of manslaughter.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring told the jury that to find Dunne guilty of murder they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not have an honest belief that he was acting in self defence and that when he assaulted Mr O'Connor, he intended to kill or at least to cause serious injury.

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