Four and a half years after the violent death of Brian Murphy, no one has been held to account for his killing. That is the simple fact of the matter following yesterday's decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal and it is not a situation that can give comfort to anyone. Still less is the possibility that no one will ever be made accountable for the actions that led to his death.
The Murphy case caught the attention of a wide section of the public like few other similar cases. Sadly, incidents such as that which erupted outside Anabel's nightclub in Dublin in 2000 were not - and are still not - unusual. But for a variety of reasons, not least the comparatively privileged background of those involved, the public sat up and took note on this occasion.
Insofar as it is possible to describe what happened, Brian Murphy was one of a large number of young people, men and women in their late teens, who attended the nightclub disco in the early hours of August 31st. As was apparent from the subsequent trial of Dermot Laide, Sean Mackey, Desmond Ryan and Andrew Frame, consumption of very significant quantities of different types of alcohol preceded the night's tragedy. Alcohol-fuelled boisterousness and aggression, prompted by name calling and jeering, boiled over into fighting. As Mr Justice McCracken described in his appeal judgment yesterday: "In the course of the fight, one of the protagonists, Brian Murphy, was set upon, punched, pushed to the ground and kicked while he was on the ground and sadly died in hospital shortly afterwards." The incident lasted perhaps just 15 to 30 seconds. But it was witnessed by several dozen people and up to eight people are believed to have been involved in the fight with Brian Murphy.
It is an unhappy irony of this case that those who appear to have co-operated most with the gardaí ended up being the only ones sent for trial. In the event, Andrew Frame was acquitted at the direction of the trial judge; Laide, Mackey and Desmond Ryan were all convicted of violent disorder, and Laide of manslaughter as well. That manslaughter conviction, together with Mr Ryan's violent disorder conviction, was quashed yesterday. Thus the only convictions to stand are Laide and Mackey's convictions for disorder.
No society can function properly without widespread adherence to a shared set of values and lives lived in accordance with certain minimum standards of behaviour. The implication of this is that when those values are violated, when standards are breached, those responsible must be held to account. And others who know who is responsible for such breaches themselves have a duty to help ensure that the law is upheld.
Brian Murphy died a violent death witnessed by many people. It is the professional opinion of the former State pathologist, Dr John Harbison, that he was kicked to death. Persons other than the four accused were involved - who are they, where are they? What do they or others close to them know? Is the end of this tragedy to be that no one saw anything, that no one is to blame?