A Kerry farmer was beaten to death with an iron bar and his body hidden in a disused well, in a row about family land reminiscent of playwright John B. Keane's The Field, a murder trial heard yesterday.
It was the opening day of the trial of Mr Eugene Daly (29), Dooneen, Kilcummin, Killarney, who is charged that on January 18th, 1996 he murdered his uncle, Mr Patrick Daly (69), at Dooneen. The accused denies the charge.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the accused's father, John (Seán) Daly, now deceased, struck the fatal blows but that Mr Eugene Daly assisted him and buried his uncle's body in a well on the family farm.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, told the jury there was "bad blood" between the deceased and his brother Seán since Patrick Daly, a bachelor and the younger of the two, inherited the family farm some 30 years ago. Seán Daly was given a house on the lands where he lived with his sons, Eugene and James.
Counsel told the jury that Patrick Daly died from "multiple blows to the head and body". "The blows to the head were caused by a blunt weapon" resulting in "extensive fractures to the skull" and brain damage. He also suffered lacerations to his spleen.
The prosecution case is that while the fatal blows were inflicted by Seán Daly, the accused man was present and "assisted his father".
The prosecution contends that it was the accused who put the body down the well. When gardaí discovered the body on January 23rd, five days after the killing, it was lying under sand and the well was covered with polythene and a concrete cover.
Counsel read from memos of a Garda interview of February 8th, 1996 in which the accused allegedly admitted kicking his uncle as he lay on the floor after being struck with an iron bar by Seán Daly.
The accused told the gardaí he went to Patrick Daly's house with his late father who wanted to "sort it out once and for all".
Asked what he wanted to sort out, the accused replied: "the bad blood between Paddy and ourselves that started 30 years ago... Dad said if he did not agree with us he would finish him off... kill him, waste him, rub him out." He allegedly told gardaí that the deceased had told Seán Daly to "get lost and leave me alone".
He said he saw his father pick up a bar and strike Patrick Daly. He slumped on the ground. According to the memo, the accused said he kicked his uncle "three or four times, maybe more" in the ribs and in the back. "I kicked him to make sure he was dead."
The accused allegedly told gardaí that after the body was placed in the well he filled it with stones and sand up to surface level.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Abbott.