Homeless man given life for pensioner murder

A homeless, alcoholic drug addict has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a pensioner with a fire extinguisher, leaving him with a fragmented skull before trying to set him on fire.

Stephen Byrne (aged 36) was found guilty of murdering 69-year-old William Traynor in his home on St Francis Terrace, Bow Street on June 17, 2007.

Firefighters found Mr Traynor semi-conscious that evening, after being called to a small fire at his house. He died two days later in Beaumont Hospital, where a neurosurgeon put his injuries at 10 on a scale of 1 to 10

“No treatment could have saved him,” said Dr Donnacha O’Brien, describing the injuries as horrendous, horrific, overwhelming and widespread.

Byrne told the court that he ‘lost it’ and ‘saw red’ after Mr Traynor ‘provoked’ him by spraying fire extinguisher foam at him as he walked by the pensioner’s front door.

Byrne said he shoved him into the house, where he assaulted him with the fire extinguisher. He left an hour later and went drinking, leaving the elderly man lying on the ground.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Mr Traynor’s death was due to head injuries, mainly to the left of his head. She said a heavy blow or blows from a heavy object resulted in a fragmented skull and brain injury.

“The skull was broken up into small pieces. There was bleeding in the left side of the brain,” she said. “Because of the bleeding, swelling and bruising on the left of the brain, the brain structures from the left had pushed into the right.”

She explained that his face was swollen, both eyes were bruised and there had been haemorrhaging within them.

“If he received just one blow, his head would have to have been supported by a heavy object, e.g., he would have had to be lying on the ground,” she said.

She said many of Mr Traynor’s ribs were fractured and there was bruising to his lungs and kidneys. She could not rule out that some of the rib fractures might have been caused during attempted resuscitation.

His shoulders, arms and legs were bruised, with the arm injuries likely to be defensive, she said. There were circular marks on his back, which were unlikely to have been caused by the same object that inflicted the head injuries.

There was fire damage to his head, she said, with his hair, moustache and left eyebrow singed and burns on his face and neck. The day after the attack, Byrne told a security guard that he had tried to set his victim on fire.

After a trial lasting more than three weeks at the Central Criminal Court, the jury of seven women and five men took six hours and five minutes to reach a unanimous verdict. They had also been given the opportunity of finding him guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Traynor died in poverty in the house in which he was raised. Although he owned his own home, at the time of his death it was unfurnished, plaster had been removed from inside walls, the floor had been dug up in places and the toilet was outside.

Both murderer and victim knew each other from using the Capuchin Day Centre on Bow Street, where they received free meals up to twice a day from the religious order.

Afterwards, Director of the centre Brother Kevin Crowley said justice had been done.

“He got a horrific death,” he said of his friend. “This is something that should never have happened Willie. He was a character, a generous, kind man, who was loved by all. He was very much a part of our centre.”

Brother Kevin congratulated the gardaí on what he described as the wonderful way the whole case was handled. He also said he witnessed “the great kindness they showed to Stephen during the investigation”.

Alcohol had been cited as a possible defence, but Brother Kevin said Byrne had no signs of being drunk when he met him the morning after the attack or whenever he met him in the centre.

However he agreed that the life Byrne led was probably due to excessive drink.

“We don’t have sufficient places for people with drinking problems to be hospitalised,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest difficulties I see at the moment.”

He said of the hundreds of people who use his centre every day, about half have alcohol problems. He also said he had seen a huge increase in the number of users in recent months.

Afterwards Byrne’s sister sobbed as her brother was led away to begin his life sentence.

Mr Traynor’s elderly cousin, Vera Foley, who also attended the entire trial, was comforted by Brother Kevin.