Man found guilty of murdering his friend
Thomas O’Connor, aged 24, of Burnaby Court, Greystones, had pleaded not guilty to murdering John O’Brien at Farrankelly Road, Delgany, on June 4, 2010.
But the jury of six men and six women returned a unanimous verdict of guilty after nearly four hours of deliberation.
Mr Justice Barry White deferred sentencing until December 12 to allow for preparation of a victim impact report.
However, the jury was told he had no discretion in departing from the mandatory life sentence.
Deputy state pathologist Dr Micheal Curtis had told the trial that the cause of death was catastrophic brain injury due to blunt force trauma to the head.
O’Connor told gardaí in interview that Mr O’Brien had started the row and tried to hit him with a rock first. He said he then got the rock but only hit Mr O’Brien two or three times and “didn’t mean to kill him”.
The accused said he was “in a rage”, and when asked by gardaí if he thought he had “lost it” in the row, he said that he had. The court also heard evidence the deceased had been abusive earlier that day, was drunk and was trying to initiate fights with numerous people.
Mr Justice White had earlier told the jury there was no option of acquitting the accused man — they must return a verdict of either guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Senior counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, with Paul Murray, submitted that O’Connor was not a man who lost total control, acting in a reasoned manner by disposing of the rock used in the attack afterwards.
The court also heard he had gone to a friend’s house to wash his hands using bleach and a scrubber before taking firelighters and burning his jumper and, later, disposing of other clothes.
He later went back to the scene where his friend’s body lay and engaged in conversation with several individuals at the scene.
Defence counsel submitted that Mr O’Brien was a violent man and behaved in “an extremely erratic matter when he had drink taken”.
Michael O’Higgins, defending, submitted an injury to O’Connor’s ear “in all probability did come from the deceased and the correct verdict is manslaughter”.
