Man cleared of baseball bat murder

A father of four has been cleared of murdering a man with a baseball bat in broad daylight on a busy street in what one witness described as “like something out of Star Wars”.

A two-week trial at the Central Criminal Court heard that a fight broke out between two men with baseball bats shortly before lunchtime on October 10, 2013, in Swords, Co Dublin.

The murder accused claimed that he was acting in self-defence when he hit the other man over the head with the bat on Main St, Swords.