Scottish new age traveller gets life for murder

A 41-year-old Scottish man was sentenced to life for the murder of an English new-age traveller five years ago at the Central Criminal Court today.

The jury of six men and six women spent nine hours and 55 minutes and two nights in a hotel before they reached their majority decision of 11 to 1 to guilty to murder.

Mr John James Kelly had pleaded not guilty to the murder of father-of-three, Chris Cybulla at The Commons, Curreeny, Kilcommon, Co Tipperary on December 28, 1999.

At the start of the trial, the accused man had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but State did not accept the plea.

Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked the jury for the dedication they showed the case and exempted them from jury service for life. "I know that being sent away to a hotel for a second night did not suit you all but you gave great attention to this case," he told the jury.

Mr Cybulla’s partner of 17 years and mother of this three children, Jeanette Mills told the court after the guilty verdict had been handed down that his death has had a "profound effect" on her life and the lives of her children.

Ms Mills said two of her children were with her in court for the entire trial but her 18-year-old "couldn’t face it".

"My 18-year-old was crying when we were leaving to come up here for the trial saying that he would never know his father as an adult because he was so young when he was killed. All my children were very young when it happened, they’ll never have the opportunity to know their father as an adult.

"This has effected us all very profoundly, I hope something positive will come out of this", she added.

Defence barrister, Ms Deirdre Murphy SC, was refused leave to appeal by Mr Justice Carney. Ms Murphy SC told the court there was eight grounds for appeal including failure to discharge the jury after a garda witness made reference to Mr Kelly "having done time in prison" and also failure to inform the jury that they were entitled to disagree after deliberating for nearly eight hours.

Garda Patrick Ryan of Newport garda station, Co Tipperary told the court Mr Kelly has 24 previous convictions in the UK mainly for road traffic offences. Garda Ryan said Mr Kelly has spent four years and five months in custody.

During the 8-day murder trial, the court heard that after Mr Kelly stabbed Mr Cybulla with a kitchen knife four times, he said: "Sorry mate, he’s dead" to the 12-year-old son of the deceased as he walked away.

Prosecuting counsel, Mr Alex Owens SC told the court that on the morning of December 28, 1999 Mr Kelly over took Mr Cybulla on a straight stretch of road near the encampment and there was a "clash of wing mirrors".

Further on up the road, the court heard, Mr Kelly got out of the car to examine the damage leaving the door of the car open. Mr Cybulla’s car "collided with the open door and proceeded onwards", Mr Owens said.

At the encampment, Mr Owens said, there was "evidence of an altercation between the accused and the deceased". Mr Kelly, the court heard, was "angry about the previous incident". He confronted the Mr Cybulla with a knife and a stick, the jury heard.

Mr Cybulla suffered four knife wounds, two of which entered Mr Cybulla’s lung and as a result of which he died.

Former State Pathologist, Professor John Harbison told the court that the deceased man suffered four stab wounds with two penetrating the left chest cavity.

Dr Harbison said there was an accumulation of blood to the left side of the chest.

The court heard that Mr Kelly "died from bleeding into the chest from two stab wounds to the lung".

Dr Harbison said the deceased man had no defensive wounds.

In his statements to gardaí, Mr Kelly said: "I’m sorry, it got out of hand, it was a clash of ego’s".

Mr Kelly told gardaí that after the road incident, he got a "twatting stick" which is "used by new age travellers for protection purposes" and also a kitchen knife.

Mr Kelly told gardaí he then went down to Mr Cybulla’s bus in which he lived in at the encampment asking him why he hit his car.

The accused alleges that Mr Cybulla said he "couldn’t avoid it". He then allegedly hit the deceased with the twatting stick, the court heard.

At this stage, the accused told gardaí, that Mr Cybulla grabbed his beard and he was afraid that the deceased would use a knife on him.

Mr Kelly told gardaí that he grabbed the kitchen knife he had with him and "jabbed" the deceased twice. Mr Cybulla, he told gardaí, fell to the ground and said: "You stuck me in the lung".

Mr Kelly allegedly said: "f*** off, you twat, you’ll be alright", to the deceased.

Mr Kelly, the court heard, walked away carrying both the knife and the stick before getting into his car with another man and driving until the petrol ran out.

Mr Kelly told gardaí that he walked to the "top of the hill" where he sat for a couple of hours and watched the scene below him as police came and went from the encampment.

The court heard Mr Kelly "decided to come down" from the hill and "flagged down" a garda car.