A CO Clare man who was shot dead with a double-barrelled shotgun had threatened to slit the throats of the children of the man who is on trial for his murder, the jury in the case has heard.
Anna Carthy, a witness for the defence and a sister-in-law of Brendan O’Sullivan who denies murdering Leslie Kenny (27) in July last year, told his trial that the threats were made to her the day before the shooting.
She said she was sitting in her car in Kilrush, when Mr Kenny and his girlfriend sat into the back- seat and threatened to hurt “Brendan and Claire’s kids”. She said he told her he was going to “slit their throats and get a seven-shot repeater and blow in the back window on top of the two girls and my sister”. She said she was “terrified” of Mr Kenny, whom she described as “unpredictable”.
That night when Mr O’Sullivan came to visit her and his godchild, Ms Carthy said the incident was playing on her mind so she told him about the threats.
The next morning, July 29th, Mr Kenny was shot at close range four times in the hip, chest and through both knees in Mr O’Sullivan’s front garden at O’Gorman Street, Kilrush.
Following his arrest that same day, Mr O’Sullivan (26) told gardaí he had been getting “non-stop threats” from Mr Kenny for a time and his family were terrified.
He decided to confront his neighbour that morning, standing on his garden bench and shouting to him that if he attacked his family, he would “be getting shot back”. When Mr Kenny walked towards his house, his wife started screaming “he’s going to kill us” and Mr O’Sullivan said he ran upstairs to get a shotgun.
He loaded it and fired two shots at Mr Kenny when he appeared at his garden, causing him to fall to the ground. Mr O’Sullivan said he got up again and came at him, so he reloaded and “put one in each leg”. Mr Kenny, who was unarmed, died almost instantly.
Mr O’Sullivan told gardaí they were only meant as warning shots.
“If I wanted to kill him I would have shot him in the head.”
He repeatedly denied having got the shotgun from his cousin for protection after the threats began. He said he was keeping it hidden under his mattress because his cousin asked him to mind it after her estranged husband had threatened to use it on himself.
In his closing speech to the jury, Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, asked them to consider evidence from the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, which seemed to contradict this account of Mr Kenny coming at Mr O’Sullivan.
The defence is due to give its closing speeches when the trial resumes today.