The father of a man who died from head injuries following an incident outside a pub in Monasterevin has described to a jury the moment he knew his son “was gone” when he saw him “gurgling” and his eyes “rolling in his head”.
Sean Kavanagh (26), with an address at St Mary’s Lane, Church Avenue, and Calvin Dunne (24) of Abbey View, both in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Dylan McCarthy on or about August 22nd, 2022.
Both men have also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on August 21st, 2022, at Dublin Road, Monasterevin, while Mr Kavanagh has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to Dylan’s father Eamon McCarthy on the same date and at the same location.
It is the State’s case that Dylan McCarthy (29) died following an incident in Monasterevin in which he received punches from Mr Kavanagh and Mr Dunne, before he received “a vicious kick” to the head from Mr Dunne while he was attempting to get up off the ground.
The jury has been told that both men have claimed they were acting in self-defence and that Dylan McCarthy was himself “involved in violence” on the night.
Giving evidence to prosecuting counsel Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC on Friday, Eamon McCarthy said he had travelled to Monasterevin from his home in Limerick on August 21st, 2022, with his son Dylan and Dylan’s partner Aoife Talty to celebrate the birth of his daughter Orla’s baby.
Mr McCarthy told the Central Criminal Court that his wife Marita stayed at home to look after their grandson while he, Dylan, Ms Talty, Orla and her partner Glen Brogan went out.
Mr McCarthy said when they left the first pub they heard music coming from another establishment, which he now knows to be the Bellyard pub, and someone in the group said “we’ll go in for one”. This was around 11.45pm, he said, and after ordering drinks, the group started to dance to the band who were playing.
Mr McCarthy said when a drink was spilt, a barman came out and was cleaning the floor when Dylan’s girlfriend said she would give him a hand. “She put her leg on it and he basically pushed her leg away and said ‘f**k away from it’.”
“I said: ‘You’re a gas man to do that to a woman’,” Mr McCarthy told counsel.
“He immediately turned to me and said: ‘Do you want a piece of me?’. I said ‘No, we’re here to enjoy ourselves’. He repeated it, I said, ‘No we’re here to enjoy ourselves’,” said the witness.
Mr McCarthy said the barman then went for Mr Brogan and he “got in between” them. He said there was another barman who “came in on Dylan’s face”.
He said he didn’t know any of these men, and that after he broke up what was happening, he said the barmen were “dragging” Aoife and Dylan out of the door. He said when he got to the porch at the front door, he saw a man who had Dylan “by the throat” and he was “gouging his eyes”.
“‘That’s my f**king son’, that’s what I said,” Mr McCarthy told the jury. “I pulled your man’s hands off Dylan. I got a dig into the back of the head and I was shoved out the door.”
He said at this point he put his foot in the door to stop them closing it and there were two men who were outside who said: “Don’t let them close the door, they’ll kill him inside there.”
Mr McCarthy said the next thing he remembered was getting up off the ground. He said there was a man walking down towards him who said: “I’m already after bursting your face twice, don’t come back for a third time.”
The witness said he told the man he was going up to his son and the man then hit him “a belt” into his face.
Asked by Mr Ó Dúnlaing to describe the man, the witness said he had facial hair and a black top on.
Mr McCarthy said after he was punched, he fell to the ground and when he eventually got up he went up to Dylan.
“I knew my son was gone at that stage,” he told the court. “His eyes were rolling in his head and he was gurgling.”
He said an ambulance arrived and gave medical assistance to his son who was then brought to hospital. A short time later, the witness said he was also removed from the scene by ambulance and brought to Portlaoise hospital, before he was transferred to Dublin.
Mr McCarthy said he sustained a fractured jaw and required surgery and five plates to treat his injuries. He also sustained a broken nose and a hairline fracture around one of his eye sockets, he confirmed to counsel. He said he waited until after Dylan’s funeral had taken place to have the operation.
Asked by Mr Ó Dúnlaing how those injuries were received, the witness said it was due to the punch from the person who came down the road towards him.
Under cross-examination, Michael Lynn SC, representing Mr Kavanagh, put it to the witness that in his witness statement, the barman said the group had become aggressive and that Mr McCarthy had commented to the owner of the bar: “You come outside with me and I’ll pull the eyes out of your head”. Mr McCarthy said this was “not true”.
Counsel said the other witness, the licence owner of the bar, said he told the group: “Lads I think it’s time to go”, and they told him to “go f**k myself. F**k you. F**k off. Don’t be acting the p**ck”.
“No, I don’t recall that,” Mr McCarthy replied.
CCTV footage from inside and outside the pub at the time of the incident was then played in court.
Mr Lynn put it to the witness that he had placed Mr Kavanagh in a headlock. “It looks like I pulled him away from my son,” said Mr McCarthy.
Mr McCarthy denied a suggestion by John FitzGerald SC, representing Mr Dunne, that Ms Talty was “getting in the way” or “making a nuisance of herself”, rather than trying to help.
Mr Fitzgerald asked the witness whether, having viewed the footage, he still maintained that he had only made one comment to the barman. “That was the extent of what the jury has just watched, is that right?” counsel asked.
“That’s what I recall, yes,” said Mr McCarthy, before rejecting suggestions that his recollection “might be wrong”.
The trial continues on Monday before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of 10 men and two women.
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