Teen hit father and left him sleeping outside, jury in murder trial told

A Roscommon teenager told gardaí that he hit his father who arrived home drunk and left him asleep outside before finding him dead the next morning, a jury has heard.

Thomas Cunningham (aged 19) of Santa Maria Commons, Ballinlough, denies murdering Thomas Brendan Cunningham (aged 46) at that address on August 23, 2007.

On day three of the Central Criminal Court trial the jury heard the contents of the notes of garda interviews with the accused. Sergeant Joseph Delaney agreed with Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that the notes were accurate as they were read to the jury.

Mr Cunningham Jnr told gardaí that he lived with his elderly grandparents and his father. On the day leading up to his death the deceased was asked to go to the shops for his parent’s dinner but instead went out drinking.

The accused told gardaí that he saw his father stumbling drunk up the driveway at around half past midnight. He initially said he went out to his father, grabbed him by the neck and punched him once in the face.

The accused told gardaí his father fell backwards and was helped up by the accused and his grandfather but fell down again so they decided to leave the deceased on the ground outside and placed a pillow under his head and a duvet on top of him. It was not the first time he had arrived home drunk or fallen or slept outside, the accused told gardaí.

In later interviews gardaí put it to the accused that the post mortem revealed that his father died from serious injuries to his head and body which were not consistent with what the accused had told gardaí.

Mr Cunningham Jnr said he had hit his father two more times and had kicked him in the stomach to get him up. He told gardaí that the deceased had arrived home with blood on his face and had said “alright my boy” when he saw his son. The accused asked him where he had been and where was his parents’ dinner. The deceased had replied “it’s in the oven; you only have to heat it up”.

The accused said he could not believe his father’s attitude and lost it. He said he grabbed him by the neck with his two hands and got him up against the car in the driveway. He said he held his father with his left hand and punched him with his right. He said the deceased fell backwards. He said he had never hit anyone like that in his life, “not with so much hate”.

His father fell face up on to the grass and he said he hit him once with his right fist and again with his left. He then got his grandfather and said “look at your son”. The accused said his grandfather poked his father with a walking stick to get him up and the accused kicked his father in the stomach.

Gardaí told the accused that the post mortem report said his father’s ribs were fractured as if kicked or stamped on. The accused said he had knelt on his father’s chest.

The two men then dragged the deceased to his feet. He stood up for a couple of seconds, took three or four steps back and fell again. The accused said his father's head made a horrible sound as it hit the ground.

Mr Cunningham Jnr said his father was out cold and snoring when he and his grandfather got a pillow and duvet, left the deceased outside and went to bed.

The next morning the accused said his father was freezing and had a brown substance in his mouth. He checked his pulse and rang for an ambulance.

The jury heard that the deceased had been an alcoholic for years and had been drinking in various pubs on the day leading up to his death.

The accused told gardaí that he had been living with and looking after his grandparents for two years. He said, “they are my world, I can’t explain how much they mean to me, without them I’d be finished”.

His father had moved in to the grandparents’ house a year after the accused did and was claiming a carer’s allowance of €300 per week. He had also received a cheque for over €12,000 in back payments from the Department of Social Welfare in June 2007.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of eight men and four women.