Two men and a teenager have been convicted of the murder of a father of seven at a funeral in Co Kerry two years ago while a jury is set to resume deliberations on Friday in relation to three other accused.
The jury of 10 men and two women took just over eight hours to convict Thomas Dooley Snr (43), Thomas Dooley Jnr (21), and a juvenile who cannot be named because of his age of the murder of Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery in Tralee on October 5th, 2022.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring thanked the jury for their deliberations to date at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and asked them to resume their deliberations on Friday morning in relation to the other three accused, Patrick Dooley (39), Danny Dooley (42) and Michael Dooley (29).
All six had pleaded not guilty to murder.
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Thomas Dooley Jnr was also charged with assault causing harm to the wife of the late Mr Dooley, Siobhán Dooley at Rath Cemetery on the same date. He pleaded not guilty to the charge but was found guilty by the jury.
Ms 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.
It is the State’s case that Mr Dooley (43) died when he was attacked as he attended a funeral in Tralee 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.
During the trial, which has run for 35 days, the jury heard that Patrick Dooley was a brother of the deceased and Thomas Dooley Snr, Daniel Dooley and Michael Dooley were first cousins of the deceased and Thomas Dooley Jnr was the son of his co-accused Thomas Dooley Snr.
Patrick Dooley is from Arbutus Grove, Killarney while Daniel Dooley is from Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee. Thomas Dooley Snr, Thomas Dooley Jnr and Michael Dooley are from the Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork.
The case resumes on Friday.
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