A Dublin Central Criminal Court jury yesterday acquitted two sons of the murder of their mother on Christmas Eve 1995 but convicted one of them of her manslaughter.
The West Cork woman's husband was acquitted on all counts in relation to her death and walked free from the court after a three-week trial.
Kieran O'Brien (23) was found not guilty of murdering his mother, Mrs Julia O'Brien (44), at the family home in High Street, Drimoleague, Co Cork on December 24th, 1995, but he was found guilty of manslaughter, causing her actual bodily harm and assaulting her.
A jury of seven men and five women acquitted her husband, Mr Joseph O'Brien (49), of manslaughter, causing her actual bodily harm and common assault. Mr O'Brien had already been found not guilty of his wife's murder by direction of the judge.
A second son, Noel O'Brien (22) was also acquitted of murder and manslaughter but was found guilty of causing her actual bodily harm and of common assault.
The jury reached unanimous verdicts on all the charges after three hours and 15 minutes deliberations. Sentencing was deferred until December 17th. Kieran O'Brien was remanded on bail.
After the jury's verdict was delivered, Mr Justice Quirke turned to Mr Joseph O'Brien and told him: "The jury has acquitted you of all the charges preferred against you. You are discharged from this court and are free to go."
With that, Mr O'Brien stood up, gathered his coat and walked to a seat near the back of the court, leaving his sons seated at the front.
A visibly distressed Kieran O'Brien sat immobile after the announcement, as his brother Noel sobbed uncontrollably beside him. Their sister Miriam (19), and older brothers Liam and Michael O'Brien were also crying, as were several family friends and Kieran O'Brien's employers.
Counsel for Mr Joseph O'Brien had argued that it was "preposterous" for the State to allege that he had had a duty of care to his wife and was guilty of her manslaughter through criminal neglect.
The prosecution case was that Mr O'Brien left his wife as she was being severely beaten by Kieran and Noel and went upstairs while the beating continued.
In court yesterday Mr Justice Quirke rejected the defence claim and directed the jury that a duty of care to one's spouse existed in Irish law for some time.
He told them that where a husband and wife were living in the same house, in the same room and were in some way dependent on each other, that even if theirs was a "flawed relationship", one spouse owed a duty of care to the other.
But he said that the breach of that duty must be "so gross" and the negligence "so cruel as to be wholly reckless". If Mr O'Brien did not realise his wife was about to be killed or seriously injured, then he was not guilty of her manslaughter, he said.
The three-week trial heard that Mrs O'Brien was found "bloodied and battered" by her son Liam at 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve morning in the sitting room.
The Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster gave evidence that the "overwhelming" cause of Mrs O'Brien's death was manual strangulation, for which her son Kieran admitted responsibility.
But Dr Bolster also told the court that Mrs O'Brien had sustained six broken ribs, at least 17 bruises to the head and neck and 21 separate injuries to her back and limbs.
The injuries to Mrs O'Brien's body were "in keeping with multiple blows and kicks to the body and stamping on the abdomen", she said.
However, Dr Boster told the court that though these injuries were a contributory cause of death because they caused shock, Mrs O'Brien would have probably survived them. Manual strangulation was "the major cause of death", she said.
Counsel for Kieran and Noel O'Brien argued that it was the very nature of these injuries that showed a "frenzied attack" where the two sons had "lost control".
The prosecution, led by Mr Ralph Sutton SC, alleged that Noel and Kieran O'Brien were part of a joint enterprise in intending to kill or seriously injure their mother, but defence counsel said there was no evidence of such a common design.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC also argued that the level of provocation offered by Mrs O'Brien on the night of her death was so great as to cause Kieran O'Brien to "literally blow his top". Mr Ciaran O'Loughlin SC and Mr David Goldberg BL, for Noel O'Brien, also argued that Noel was provoked through the culmination of years of belittling by his mother and her throwing soup in his face on the night of her death.
Mr Joseph O'Brien made and signed a statement to gardai in which he admitted assaulting his wife upstairs before she was killed and pushing her downstairs when she was being beaten by her sons.
But this statement was contested by his defence barrister, Mr Michael McMahon SC, who urged the jury to disregard it as "unreliable" and "full of Garda-speak".
Defence counsel argued that while Mrs O'Brien did not deserve to die or be beaten because of her alcoholism, it was that disease which had created the family environment which eventually led to her death.
In an impassioned plea to the jury, Mr Goldberg said the family had been "sundered enough" and they must ask what Mrs O'Brien would have wanted to result from the trial. Saying she had been present in the court throughout the trial, Mr Goldberg added that she should be left to rest in peace.
A next-door neighbour, Mr Michael O'Leary, told the court he heard noises coming from their house at around 1.10 a.m. on Christmas Eve. Asked by Mr Sutton how long the noises had been goingon, he replied: "About 17 years."
Mrs O'Brien's daughter, Miriam, gave evidence that her mother had been "violent and abusive" when drunk.