Sixth man found guilty of murder of father of seven, Thomas Dooley, in Kerry
Daniel Dooley, 42, of An Carraigin, Connolly Park in Tralee was found guilty of the murder of his cousin Thomas Dooley after close to 21 hours of deliberations by the jury of ten men and two women
A sixth man has been found guilty of the murder of Kerry father of seven, Thomas Dooley, who was set upon in a “violent and savage attack” as he attended a funeral at a graveyard in Tralee in October 2022.
Daniel Dooley, 42, of An Carraigin, Connolly Park in Tralee, was found guilty of the murder of his cousin after close to 21 hours of deliberations by the jury of ten men and two women. The decision was not unanimous and involved a majority verdict of eleven to one.
Prosecution barristers claimed during the trial that Mr Dooley died in an “honour killing” and that the men used “medieval violence” to “butcher” the victim.
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However, Brian McInerney, SC for Daniel Dooley, had stated that his client was not forensically linked to the evidence of the case. He said that the widow of the deceased, Siobhan Dooley, had named someone in her statement who could not have been in the graveyard that day. She then testified that she meant Daniel, as the two men are “an awful lot alike”. Mrs Dooley said that she just got confused about the names.
Upon conviction, Daniel Dooley shouted at the dead man’s widow, Siobhán, that “on my wife’s grave, ye won’t get an hour of luck, ye won’t get an hour of luck”. He also protested his innocence.
The convictions of all six men for the murder of Killarney native Thomas Dooley come after a month-long trial which took place at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork. Thomas Dooley was set upon by the group at New Rath Cemetery in Rathass in Tralee on October 5, 2022. He was pronounced dead at University Hospital Kerry (UHK).
All six men have been remanded in custody for sentencing on Tuesday of next week. Victim impact statements will be prepared in the interim. Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring thanked the jurors for their vigilant service during a “difficult job” and excused them from jury service for a period of 15 years. She told jurors that they were welcome to attend the sentencing hearing.
During the course of the lengthy trial, Dean Kelly, SC for the State, said that “honour” had been offended when a relationship between one of the late Mr Dooley’s daughters and one of the accused men had “broken down”. Mr Kelly said that Mr Dooley was set upon and attacked by a group of males armed with bladed weapons.
Among the convicted men is Patrick Dooley of Arbutus Grove in Killarney, who was a brother of the victim. He was found guilty of the murder of his older brother on July 19 last. Prosecuting barristers called his act a “biblical atrocity”.
He had claimed that he saw men jump on his brother in the graveyard and had tried to help him to no avail. However, Siobhan Dooley, the widow of the late Mr Dooley, said that she saw her brother-in-law Patrick grin and produce a knife before her husband was set upon. She said that the attack on her husband was “like something you would see in a movie”. The men were hitting him with weapons and there was “blood everywhere”, she said.
Meanwhile, Michael Dooley of the Halting site, Carrigrohane Road in Cork, was found guilty of the murder on Tuesday of this week. He was a cousin of the deceased. Mr Dooley strongly protested his innocence when he was convicted and said that he was an “innocent man”. His senior counsel Ray Boland had claimed that his client went to the funeral to pay his respects to the family of the deceased woman, Bridget O’Brien. Mr Boland said that the 29-year-old had “no hand or part in the crime”.
Father and son Thomas Dooley Snr, 43, and Thomas Dooley Jnr, 21, both of the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road in Cork, were found guilty of the murder on July 18 last after the jury deliberated for around eight hours. The juvenile couldn’t be named because of his age. Mr Thomas Dooley Jnr was also found guilty of assault causing harm to Siobhan Dooley.
Thomas Dooley Snr and Thomas Dooley Jnr are respectively a brother-in-law and a second cousin of the deceased man. Thomas Dooley Snr was also a first cousin of the dead man. Five of the convictions involved unanimous verdicts.
Siobhan Dooley had told the trial that she and her husband and their four youngest children had travelled from their home in Killarney to attend the funeral of their friend, Bridget O’Brien, in Tralee, where her husband was attacked by a group of six armed men.
She said that Michael and Daniel Dooley were “actually grinning” during the attack. She stated that her husband’s brother-in-law Thomas Dooley Snr was carrying two weapons as he approached her husband.
“One was shiny and looked to be new, the other had a bit of rust on it — one had a round top, the other was a big chunk of a yoke — I had never seen weapons like them before. I said to my husband ‘run’ and he turned to me and said ‘Run?’ Run for what — I had nothing to run for.”
She said that Thomas Dooley Jnr was standing behind one of her sons and was about to swing a weapon at him, but she pushed her son out of the way and he ended up hitting her and cutting her under the arm.
“I knew they were going to do harm when I saw the weapons. I tried to squeeze in between them and my husband but there was no hope — all I could do was start scraping Tom’s (Thomas Dooley Snr’s) face and eyes with my nails to get him away from my husband.”
Mrs Dooley said that she ran out of the cemetery and saw a Garda car in a garage across the road. She ran to a Garda and started roaring and shouting that her husband was being killed by the men. Mrs Dooley sustained serious injuries in the incident. The trial heard that she suffered a foot-long wound to her shoulder which required 45 stitches and 30 staples. She was informed of the death of her husband Thomas whilst she was undergoing treatment at UHK.
The trial also heard evidence from UHK hospital registrar, Dr Muhammad Essa, who said that Mrs Dooley had sustained a “serious injury”. He said she had what appeared to be a 30 cm (foot long) wound on the back of her shoulder.
“You could see the fatty tissue. It had gone to the layer under the skin. There was a dressing on the wound (administered by paramedics). The blood, of course. was soaking the gauze. It was oozing blood,” Dr Essa said.
He said that the wound went from the right shoulder of Mrs Dooley and extended to her armpit. “It was not shredded. It was a clear cut. It happened (was caused) by something sharp.”
Dr Essa told Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and the jury that he gave Mrs Dooley 45 stitches and 30 staples. “The staples were used because stitches wouldn’t hold it together. Staples are stronger and faster.”
He said that Mrs Dooley was informed of the death of her husband Thomas whilst she was in hospital. “We talked about the passing of her husband. She was very distressed. It was very sad. We had to give her (Siobhan) some sedation to calm her down."
Evidence in the case was also heard from Sion O’Driscoll, who went to Rath Cemetery in Tralee on October 5, 2022 for the funeral of his aunt, Bridget O’Brien. He said that he had travelled from Cork for the funeral. He initially went to the funeral home and then the remains of Ms O’Brien were taken from a motorised hearse to a horse-drawn carriage for the final procession to the graveyard.
Mr O’Driscoll said that he was serving as a pallbearer when he told his father to “get under the coffin” in his place.
“I heard screaming down the end of the graveyard. I ran down and I saw a man lying dead. It was Thomas Dooley. I knew him well. He was a good friend. He was a quiet man. Siobhan was cut as well. It looked like an X or something.”
He said that he didn’t witness an attack on the person of Mr Dooley or his wife. However, he did notice people running to the gate. “There was lots of people running out. I saw the Dooleys running out.”
The trial also heard evidence from State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis. She carried out a post-mortem on the deceased on October 6, 2022 in a mortuary across the street from the New Rath Cemetery. Dr Collis visited the scene of the altercation. She noted blood stains and clotted blood on the grass in the graveyard. Gardaí informed her that a machete had been recovered in grass adjacent to the cemetery.
Dr Collis said that the body of Mr Dooley showed no signs of asphyxiation. Signs of medical intervention were noted. A stab wound was recorded on the back of the deceased. It was 5.8 centimetres in length and one centimetre in width with a depth of over six centimetres. The jury heard that the wound had damaged the small bones in the spine.
It also caused haemorrhage around the spinal cord. Dr Collis said that the degree of damage sustained to the back would have required moderate to severe force. A stab wound was also noted on the right upper thigh with “significant blood loss”. This was a cut of over 10cm which transected Mr Dooley’s femoral artery. It also punctured one of his veins. There was also an incision wound to the upper leg which was 7.8cm in length.
Dr Collis said that Mr Dooley sustained a blunt force injury to the head. Haemorrhaging also occurred in the right temple area. Dr Collis said the clothing worn by the deceased on the date the altercation took place had evidence of blood staining. His jeans were heavily blood-stained while his socks also had specks of blood.
Dr Collis also logged a chop wound on the right upper arm which was 25.5 cm in length, 5cm in width and 13cm in depth. She said that the chop wound was caused by a “sharp implement — the sharpness of the blade incised the wound”. Fatty tissue and muscle was exposed.
Abrasions and bruising were recorded on multiple areas in the body. Dr Collis said the cause of death was sharp force injuries resulting in blood loss. A machete which Gardaí found in the area of the cemetery was also shown to the jurors during the trial.
The late Thomas Dooley was laid to rest at Clonminch Cemetery in his wife's native Tullamore, Co Offaly on October 13, 2022 following a requiem mass at the Church of Assumption in the town. The deceased man is survived by his wife, three sons and four daughters. He lived at Hazelwood Drive, Ballyspillane in Killarney.
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