An eyewitness has told a Central Criminal Court jury that there was “a loud thud” like someone “kicking a football” when 29-year-old Dylan McCarthy was struck in the head, causing injuries that led to his death.
It is the State’s case that Mr McCarthy died following an incident in a Kildare town in which he received punches from Sean Kavanagh (26) and Calvin Dunne (24), 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 Mr McCarthy was himself “involved in violence” on the night.
Mr Kavanagh (26) with an address at St Mary’s Lane, Church Avenue, and Mr Dunne (24) of Abbey View, both in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McCarthy on or about August 22nd, 2022.
They have also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on August 21st, 2022, at Dublin Road, Monasterevin, while Mr Kavanagh has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing harm on Eamon McCarthy, the father of the deceased, on the same date and at the same location.
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The jury on Wednesday heard evidence from Stephen Donohue, who told counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Seoirse O’Dúnlaing SC, that he was parked in his vehicle on the night when “trouble broke out” outside the Bellyard pub. He said he saw a middle-aged man, who was walking away, get hit with a fist from behind, knocking him to the ground. He said that the person who hit him walked back to the main crowd.
Mr Donohue said he saw another male lying on the ground. He said that a man who was about six foot tall with blondish hair “took a run at the chap on the ground and kicked him in the head”.
He said this male ran for about a yard and a half before delivering the kick, with the witness saying he heard “a loud thud” that was “like kicking a football”. Mr Donohue said that the two women were “screaming, shouting, crying”, with one of them kneeling on the ground beside the man who had been kicked, pumping his chest.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing asked the witness what the man who got kicked to the head was doing when he received the kick, to which Mr Donohue replied: “Nothing. He was barely moving.”
Mr Donohue later agreed with John Fitzgerald SC, representing Mr Dunne, that CCTV footage did not show Mr McCarthy lying on his back when he received the kick.
A patron of the Bellyard pub, Edward Byrne, gave evidence that he saw a group of five people in the pub that night, three men and two girls. Just after midnight, a barman came from behind the bar with kitchen roll and a mop as there was drink spilt on the floor.
Mr Byrne said that he saw one of the women in the group trying to kick the mop, so the barman asked her to step back. Mr Byrne said that a taller man in his 50s stepped in, so the group was asked to leave, but they would not leave. He said that the taller man “got up into” the barman’s face, so another staff member told them to leave.
“That’s when things got out of hand,” said Mr Byrne, adding that a staff member “got a box”, before a lot of other people got involved.
“One of the lads in the group struck him, I can’t recall which,” he said, explaining that a “smaller fella” struck the staff member.
The jury previously heard evidence from Eamon McCarthy that he was in the pub with his son Dylan, Dylan’s partner Aoife Talty, his daughter Orla, and her partner Glen Brogan.
The trial continues on Thursday before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and the jury of 10 men and two women.
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