A man accused of murdering his uncle told gardai he "worked it out" with another man to kill the elderly man at the farm his family shared with him in 1996. Statements to gardai made by the accused were heard yesterday on the second day of his trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Eugene Daly (23), of Dooneen, Kilcummin, Killarney, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his uncle, Patrick Daly (69), at the same address on or about January 18th, 1996.
The 105-acre farm had been left to Patrick Daly, in a departure from the rural custom of leaving it to the eldest son.
When the body of Patrick Daly was discovered by gardai at the bottom of a well on the farm on January 23th, 1996, his nephew gave media interviews expressing shock. However, interviewed by gardai on February 8th, he admitted involvement in the killing.
In the weeks before the killing, he had painted slogans on the walls of his uncle's house and on abandoned cars. He told gardai he painted the graffiti because another man had asked him "to scare" his uncle. When Patrick Daly's body was found, he attempted to obliterate some of it.
On January 18th, 1996, the other man had been "in a temper", lost control and hit Patrick Daly with a rusty iron bar. The other man did it, he said, "and I couldn't do anything about it".
"Yes, he has his story and I have mine.". He had helped himself and shouldn't have. "I am an accessory, like.".
After the other man was charged with murder, Mr Daly told gardai the next day he had not told them the whole truth. He said: "We had discussed where we would get rid of Paddy when we were in the car on the way down from our house on the Thursday morning. We worked it out that we'd end Paddy like, and we did."
When an argument with Patrick Daly about money and land became heated, the other man repeatedly hit him with a rusty iron bar as he got into his van. Mr Daly "started kicking Paddy into the ribs and back to make sure he was gone". He was kicking him to do the other man "a favour to make sure he was killed".
He dragged his uncle's body across a road to another part of his land and threw the body in "head first" into a well.
Supt Michael O'Neill said a neighbour of Patrick Daly alerted gardai to his disappearance on January 20th, 1996. A short time later, members of the Daly family reported him missing, and gardai visited the farm.
When they returned the following day, Sgt Michael O'Donovan noticed that a boot impression seen earlier was gone and the well had been topped up with sand. Garda suspicions were aroused, and on January 23rd the well was excavated and the body found.