Toland not guilty of threatening to kill his victim's sister

A man who is serving a life sentence for murder has been acquitted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of threatening to kill his victim’s sister.

Ms Roisin Nolan had told the jury that she got “an awful shock” when Martin Toland (aged 35) came up beside her on his bike and said “hello” in a “smart and condescending way”.

“He said to me: ‘It’s your f***ing fault your brother is dead. It was you in his ear, giving it all that and he just snapped’,” Ms Nolan said.

She said she told the man to “f*** off” and continued to walk away while pushing her cousin’s child in a buggy.

“He seemed to be in a rage. There were many things I wanted to say to him. He told me: ‘You’re f***ing next. I’ll kill you as well’,” Ms Nolan told prosecuting counsel Ms Fiona Murphy BL.

She said she was terrified and in an awful state. She could not believe that Mr Toland had approached her.

Ms Nolan said she called the detective who had been investigating her brother’s murder and told him what happened.

Toland of Walkinstown Park, Walkinstown, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to threatening to kill Ms Nolan at Bunting Road, Walkinstown on June 25, 2009. He had been facing a charge of stabbing Alan Nolan at the time.

The jury of six men and six women took just under three and half hours to return the verdict on the third day of the trial. Judge Patricia Ryan thanked the jury for their care and attention and told them they were free to go.

Toland was convicted in January 2010 of murdering Mr Nolan (aged 28), at his Ballyfermot home in September 2007, and is now serving a life sentence in Mountjoy prison.

Toland told Ms Anne Rowland BL, defending, during the trial, that he had not even recognised Roisin Nolan that day. He said he was cycling on the path as she was coming up onto the path between two parked cars on his right hand side.

He claimed that as he got past her, she said something like “enjoying your cycle?” He said Ms Nolan has a very distinctive voice and he knew then it was her.

Mr Toland said he cycled for about 10-15 meters and turned back because he was afraid Ms Nolan would call her brother and father. He passed by Ms Nolan again and said she shouted something about “hell” and he replied: “We are all going through hell”.

He told Ms Rowland that he did not tell Ms Nolan she was next, nor did he threaten to kill her or cause her harm.

Ms Niamh Toland, Mr Toland’s sister told Ms Rowland that she was stopped in traffic after her brother’s appearance at the District Court in relation to Mr Nolan’s murder when Roisin Nolan and her father Tony, approached her car and kicked at it and started screaming at her.

She said it went on for a few minutes and she drove off when the lights turned green.

Ms Toland denied that she had laughed at Ms Nolan as she passed by her in her car, as the woman had earlier testified. “I was not aware they were behind me until I stopped at the lights,” Ms Toland said.

She said a few months later she was driving into the entrance of her estate when she saw a car pulled up in front of her.

She said Tony Nolan got out and called her and her mother “murderers” before he said he was “going to f***ing kill me”. He then hit her windscreen with a hammer and the window of the car before she told her mother to get out of the car and she got out herself.

Ms Toland said Mr Nolan then kicked her, pulled her by the hair and struck her with a hammer. She said she was left with an injury to the side of her head and attended her GP where she was given anti-inflammatories and painkillers.

Ms Valerie Toland, the accused’s mother, told Ms Rowland that in October 2007 Tony Nolan drove past her in a jeep and shouted at her to keep an eye on her son because “he will be got” before he said he would “f***ucking kill my daughter”.

She said she firmly believed that he would kill both her son and daughter.

She said there was a second incident where she met Mr Nolan on the street and told him she was so sorry for what had happened. She said he listened to her and then replied: “I feel so sorry for you, I feel so sorry for you because I am going to kill your daughter.”

Ms Toland said she told the gardaí straight away because she believed Mr Nolan’s threat.

She said was in a petrol station with Niamh the following February or March when Roisin Nolan pulled up beside her in her car, rolled down the window and said: “Are you afraid, you be very afraid”.