A jury has found a man not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a 29-year-old who died in hospital 11 days after being kicked in the head by the accused and punched by another accused in Co Cork.
A Central Criminal Court jury took almost 18 ¾ hours to reach a majority 10-2 verdict and acquit Ricardo Hoey (21) of the murder and find him guilty of the manslaughter of Matt O’Neill at Glenwood Estate, Carrigaline,on December 28th, 2022.
Hoey, of Ardcarrig, Carrigaline, and Jordan Deasy, of Ravensdale, Heron’s Wood, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr O’Neill when they were arraigned in Cork two weeks ago.
Following the second verdict, Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford thanked the jury for their diligence in what she “described as a difficult trial and an emotional trial at times”. Defence counsel applied for an adjournment to allow for the preparation of probation reports. The case will return to court on May 16th.
The jury last week found Deasy not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Neill by a majority 11-1 verdict after deliberating for almost 15 hours. He had been remanded in custody pending the outcome of the jury’s deliberations on his co-accused.
Deasy admitted pushing and punching Mr O’Neill as he fell to the ground and Hoey admitted kicking Mr O’Neill once to the head while he was on the ground during an altercation near the victim’s home on at around 7.45pm on December 28th, 2022.
The jury heard evidence from 36 witnesses including John McGovern, who was walking through the estate at about 7.30pm and saw Mr O’Neill on the ground in front of a car with two men standing over him.
“I asked, ‘Lads, what’s after going on here?’ I approached the man on the ground who I noticed was unconscious. He was on the passenger side. Only the taller man replied and said ‘He wouldn’t get out of the way’. I presumed he meant the man on the ground would not get out of the way of the car.”
Mr McGovern said the demeanour of the two men changed when he said he was calling the gardaí and emergency services and that they left the scene.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Eoin Sheehan said he was visiting his parents in Carrigaline and came upon Mr O’Neill unconscious on the ground.
“My initial thoughts were that he could have been knocked down or he could have fallen over or he could have been assaulted, pushed over and fallen. It was very hard to say in the heat of the moment in the middle of the road – he was pretty critically injured,” he said.
Dr Sheehan, who was with Mr O’Neill for an hour before and after paramedics arrived, agreed with defence counsels Tom Creed SC and Brendan Grehan SC that Mr O’Neill’s head injury could have been caused by head hitting the ground.
The jury also heard that Mr O’Neill was involved in a violent incident on Christmas Eve. Witness Brian Conniry said he was driving past Carrigaline community centre and saw a melee in the middle of the road.
“There was a guy in the middle of the road with a guy in front of him and a guy behind him and they were digging him. I got out and roared at them to get off him. One guy was kneeling down and they were throwing digs into his head. A guy said, ‘You have no idea what you are getting involved in’,” he said.
“I helped Matt up – I am calling him Matt, but I didn’t know him at the time. He looked defenceless. He put his baseball hat back on. I put him into the car. I asked where he lived, and I dropped him home. He was talking away goodo.”
The jury also heard evidence from three young man involved in the Christmas Eve incident and they variously stated that it was nothing more than a scuffle and that Mr O’Neill was fine when he got into Mr Conniry’s car.
Dr Eimear McCarthy, Mr O’Neill’s GP, said he had suffered generalised anxiety disorder and had a long history of addiction and substance misuse. She said he had been discharged from a treatment centre because his anxiety was so severe, but he had no physical issues that made him susceptible.
Det Garda Ian Breen gave evidence of memos of Garda interviews with Deasy, who was arrested in Crosshaven on New Year’s Eve 2022. He said he was a passenger and Hoey was driving his car.
“Me and Ricardo were driving in Glenwood. He [the late Matt O’Neill] was standing in front of the car. He would not get out of the way of the car. He wouldn’t move. We were telling him to move. He was waving his bottle,” Deasy said.
“Ricardo was beeping him first. He was swinging a bottle around by the windscreen. Ricardo pushed him. I hit him. He fell to the floor. Ricardo kicked him. I hit him when he was on the floor again. We got back in the car. I realised I dropped my phone. I went back and got my phone.”
Deasy was asked about Mr O’Neill falling and whether he hit his head and he replied: “It could have been on his head, I am not sure. He was waving the bottle at us. I thought he was going to hit us with it ... I just want to say to Matt, I did not mean for it to end up that way.”
Hoey said in interview that he pushed Mr O’Neill once and kicked him once when he was on the ground.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out an autopsy on January 9th, 2023 and found that Mr O’Neill’s death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head “which was consistent with a combination of blows and a fall”.
However, defence witness Prof Jack Crane, a pathologist, testified that if Mr O’Neill had suffered a small subdural haematoma from the earlier assault on Christmas Eve, he may not have shown any significant symptoms as there was what is described as “a lucid interval” before symptoms emerge.
“It is only when the blood clot enlarges inside that you have symptoms. And if someone is intoxicated where they are drowsy, and their speech is slurred, those symptoms are very similar to what you get with subdural haematoma,” he said, noting that Dr Bolster had found the loss of consciousness was rapid.
“There is a very distinct possibility there was bleeding already there.”
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