Nephew threw uncle down well after father killed him, court told

A Kerry man told gardai that he threw his uncle's body down a well after his father had killed him with an iron bar, a murder trial jury heard today.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court heard that Eugene Daly told gardai that his father Sean, who is now deceased, hit his uncle Patrick (Paddy) Daly with an iron bar after the two of them had gone to his uncle's house to sort out "bad blood that started thirty years ago".

Detective Superintendent John O' Mahony said that Daly made a statement at Killarney Garda Station on February 8, 1996 in which he said "there was bad blood between Paddy and ourselves".

"Dad said if he didn't agree with us he would finish him off," the accused said. He said he understood this meant his father would "kill him, waste him, rub him out". Asked if he agreed with this, Daly replied: "Yes, I know it's total madness."

Eugene Daly (aged 29), of Dooneen , Kilcummin, Killarney has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his uncle, Mr Patrick Daly (aged 69) at Dooneen on January 18, 1996.

The prosecution has claimed that the accused assisted in burying his uncle's body in the well after his father, Mr Sean Daly struck him with an iron bar after a row over family land.

Detective Superintendent O' Mahony said that Eugene Daly told gardai that he and his father went into Paddy's house and his father said to Paddy that he didn't like the way Paddy was "going on'" and there would be trouble if he didn't stop fighting.

His uncle told them to "get lost"' and leave him alone and his father said: "I'll fix you." Daly said his father was in a temper. He saw his father picking up a brown bar from the tool room and he went up to Paddy who was facing away from him.

"Dad hit Paddy on the back of the head with the bar. Paddy slumped to the ground. Dad then hit him a few times when he was on the ground," Eugene said.

Asked if anything had been said, Eugene said: "Paddy just said 'What', startled like, just before he got the first belt. He lay in a heap on the grass. There was blood trickling from his head.

"I went over to Paddy. I kicked him a number of times just to make sure he was dead," the accused added.

Daly was asked when he knew his uncle was dead and he replied: "I presumed when I was dragging him and there was no noise out of him."

He said that his father then said to him to tidy up and he dragged his uncle's body down to the well by the shoulders. "I lifted up the cover of the well and let him fall in head first."

Daly said that he then filled the well with plastic and stones and put sand on top a few minutes after he put his uncle in it. He said he knew there was water at the bottom and added: "I heard a splash when I dropped him in."

Daly said that he cleaned up the blood from dragging the body with a rag and water and then cleaned blood from the yard with a brush. He said he was in Paddy’s house until 6 o'clock cleaning up.

Earlier retired Garda Henry Purcell said that he went to the farm of Patrick Daly after he was reported missing on January 20,1996.

He said that he met Mr Daly's brother Sean and Sean's two sons, Jim and Eugene, and asked them if there was money in the house.

He was given two building society deposit books and he noticed that £2,000 had been withdrawn on January 12.

Mr Purcell said that he asked if there was a well on the farm and the three Dalys showed him a well and told him it had been filled in by Paddy. He went to the well with the Dalys and asked Jim to pull back a concrete cover.

"I saw that it had been filled up the top with sand. I put my right foot into the sand and I found it very soft," he added.

Mr Purcell said that Eugene Daly also volunteered information that he had washed his uncle's van because molasses had been spilled in it.

Cross examined by defence counsel Mr Brendan Grehan SC, Mr Purcell said he was surprised that the sand on top of the well was so soft.

He said he was at the farm after Mr Daly's body was recovered from the well and he agreed that there was a lot of media interest.

The trial before Mr Justice Abbott and the jury of six men and six women continues tomorrow