A Scottish man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an English new-age traveller in Co Tipperary.
The jury of six men and six women at the Central Criminal Court spent just under 10 hours and two nights in a hotel before it reached its 11-1 verdict yesterday.
John James Kelly (41) had pleaded not guilty to the murder of father-of-three Chris Cybulla at The Commons, Curreeny, Kilcommon, Co Tipperary on December 28th, 1999. At the start of the trial, he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but the State did not accept the plea.
Jeanette Mills, Mr Cybulla's partner of 17 years and mother of his children, told the court after the verdict had been handed down that his death has had a "profound effect" on her life and the lives of her children.
Ms Mills said two of her children were with her in court for the entire trial but her 18-year- old "couldn't face it".
"My 18-year-old was crying when we were leaving to come up here for the trial, saying that he would never know his father as an adult because he was so young when he was killed . . . This has affected us all very profoundly, I hope something positive will come out of this."
Defence barrister Deirdre Murphy SC was refused leave to appeal. Ms Murphy told the court there were eight grounds for appeal including failure to discharge the jury after a Garda witness made reference to Kelly "having done time in prison" and failure to inform the jury that it was entitled to disagree after deliberating for nearly eight hours.
Garda Patrick Ryan of Newport Garda station, Co Tipperary, told the court Kelly had 24 previous convictions in Britain, mainly for road traffic offences. Garda Ryan said Kelly had spent four years and five months in custody.
During the eight-day trial, the court heard that after Kelly stabbed Mr Cybulla with a kitchen knife four times, he said "Sorry mate, he's dead" to Mr Cybulla's 12-year-old son as he walked away.
Prosecuting counsel Alex Owens told the court that on the morning of December 28th, 1999, Kelly overtook Mr Cybulla on a straight stretch of road near the encampment and there was a "clash of wing mirrors".
Farther on up the road Kelly got out of the car to examine the damage, leaving the door of the car open. Mr Cybulla's car "collided with the open door and proceeded onwards", Mr Owens said.
At the encampment, Mr Owens said, there was "evidence of an altercation between the accused and the deceased". Kelly, the court heard, was "angry about the previous incident". He confronted Mr Cybulla with a knife and a stick.
Mr Cybulla suffered four knife wounds, two of which entered his lung, as a result of which he died.
Former State pathologist Prof John Harbison told the court that Mr Cybulla suffered four stab wounds, with two penetrating the left chest cavity.
Prof Harbison said there was an accumulation of blood to the left side of the chest. "1.14 litres of blood is a very large loss of blood."
The court heard that Mr Cybulla "died from bleeding into the chest from two stab wounds to the lung". Prof Harbison said he had no defensive wounds.
In his statements to gardaí, Kelly said: "I'm sorry, it got out of hand, it was a clash of egos."
Kelly told gardaí that after the road incident, he got a "twatting stick" which is "used by new-age travellers for protection purposes" and also a kitchen knife.
He then went down to Mr Cybulla's bus in which he lived in at the encampment asking him why he hit his car. Mr Cybulla said he "couldn't avoid it". Kelly then hit Mr Cybulla with the "twatting stick", the court heard.
At this stage, Kelly told gardaí, Mr Cybulla grabbed his beard and he was afraid he would use a knife on him. Kelly said he grabbed the kitchen knife he had with him and "jabbed" him twice. Mr Cybulla fell to the ground and said: "You stuck me in the lung".
Kelly said: "F*** off, you twat, you'll be all right." He walked away carrying both the knife and the stick before getting into his car with another man and driving around until the petrol ran out.
The court heard Kelly eventually "decided to come down" from the hill overlooking the encampment from where he was watching developments and "flagged down" a Garda car.
