Pickaxe handle killer jailed

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 05:21 PM

A Dublin GAA fan who beat a man to death with a pickaxe handle was today sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter.

Terence Keogh, (aged 37), from Pine Brook Vale in Blanchardstown, Dublin had pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of John Murphy on April 15, 2002.

The Central Criminal Court heard that he was wearing his Dublin GAA football jersey when he chased down and cornered Murphy, before hitting him repeatedly with the pickaxe handle for five minutes.

Judge Paul Carney said he had taken into account the “unmitigated brutality” of the attack. He added that he could see and hear the suffering of Mr Murphy’s family, who gave evidence that their lives had been ripped apart by the killing.

He suspended the final year of the 10-year sentence and refused Keogh’s lawyers leave to appeal.

But there were angry scenes in the wake of the verdict. Keogh claimed he was the victim and that he had been attacked by Murphy and his friends.

“How can yiz sit there, yiz f******g liars?” he shouted at Murphy’s family, who were seated in court. He was escorted from the court by gardaí, along with his wife who broke down in tears when the verdict was announced.

Sergeant Liam Kelly of Blanchardstown garda station told the court that Murphy and Keogh had been drinking in the Buddha bar in Blanchardstown in separate groups.

Murphy, (aged 29), from Carne Court, Hartstown, Dublin 15, shouted at Keogh that he was a rapist and a child molester.

Sergeant Kelly said there was no substance to the allegation to the best of his knowledge.

Senior counsel Paul Coffey, for the prosecution, said it was accepted that there was some measure of provocation, but that Keogh’s response was overwhelmingly disproportionate.

The two men began fighting and were ejected from the bar by bouncers. Outside, Murphy’s younger brother, Mark, knocked down Keogh and began kicking him on the ground.

Keogh ran to the boot of his car afterwards, took out a pick axe handle and chased Murphy, his brother and two others 600 yards up the road to the nearby Sheepmoore estate.

Derek Murphy told the court that Keogh did not just kill his brother in the frenzied attack that followed – he "absolutely destroyed" him.

“His face was three times its size. There was an open wound on his head that they couldn’t bandage,” he said.

Murphy was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown with severe head injuries but was pronounced dead at 3.40am.

Michelle Mahony, Murphy’s partner, said that their five-year-old daughter asked for her father every day.

“I told her that her daddy fell off a horse. I can’t tell her the truth,” she said.

She added that her daughter couldn’t understand that he was not coming back.