Man shot brother in row over burial of mother, court told

A Co Wicklow bachelor who denies murdering his brother told gardaí that he shot him following a row over where their mother was buried, a court has heard.

Cecil Tomkins ( aged 63), of New Lodge Nursing Home, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham in Dublin has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Walter Tomkins (aged 66) at Cronlea, Shillelagh on July 1, 2010.

Cecil Tomkins, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, told gardaí that he shot his brother Walter, who was also a bachelor, in the hallway of the house they shared because he did not follow his mother’s burial wishes.

The court heard their mother, Bella Tomkins, had been buried just days before on June 28 locally in Aghowle with her late husband, who died in 1999 but that it had been her wish to be buried in Gorey, Co.Wexford.

Today the court heard the accused told gardaí that he took his gun out of his bedroom and loaded it with a cartridge while his brother was in the bathroom, then “let one shot off” at “about chest high” while he was halfway down the hallway.

When asked by gardaí, in the interview after he was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm, if he was angry at the time he replied: “Ah I was”.

“It was entirely over where they buried my mother…if she’d been buried in Gorey it would never have happened,” he said. “I challenged him about it that day, that’s how the row started,” he added.

“I never thought it was as serious as it was,” he said. “I thought it would only wound him,” he later told gardaí.

He said his brother weighed 20 stone and “he’d hit you a belt very quick”. He told gardaí that he had sometimes hit him but he was ashamed to tell anyone.

“I was sort of in fear of him, he is not the sort of fellow you would mess with,” he said.

“I was not going to take any chances…he could charge you like a bull,” the accused told gardaí.

The accused said the incident happened at 7pm “because the weather forecast was on.” “It was only a spur of the moment thing,” he added.

He said his brother came in and turned the television on and when he confronted him his brother denied taking the envelope containing his mother’s burial wishes and hymns for the funeral.

When asked by gardaí if he really cared about what the outcome would be he replied: “immediately afterwards I was,” and said he immediately went for help.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar told Mr John O’Kelly SC defending the injuries to the deceased did not cause instantaneous death.

He also said he discovered there were “coronary artery problems” and that the heart was thickened and enlarged. He said this would affect the “survivability” of the injury. “It would have compounded the effect of the injury,” Dr Jabbar told the court.

He also agreed aggressive intervention by a surgeon would “probably increase survivability” but that only a surgeon could determine that.

Dr Jabbar further agreed with Mr O’ Kelly that trying to get immediate help would have been “a very important step.”

He told Mr Dominic McGinn SC prosecuting the cause of death was damage to the heart, there was a large amount of blood in the chest and the abdomen and he lost 40% of his blood.

Dr Jabbar said it was a fatal injury, which does not have an immediate cause of death and was attributed to a single shotgun wound.

Dr Conor O’ Neill, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, told the court he met with Cecil Tomkins in July and August 2010 to assess his fitness to be tried.

He said the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease had an impact on his life in that his activity was very limited and that he had fallen from a tractor on a number of occasions.

Dr O’ Neill said Cecil Tomkins indicated he had had a difficult relationship with his brother Walter for a number of years.

He told the court the accused said his brother had taken responsibility for the burial of his mother and that he was not consulted about her wishes.

He said he had a “good recollection of what had occurred” on the day of the incident.

Dr O’ Neill agreed with Mr O’ Kelly that there was “a shrinkage of the brain” which would have an affect on his decision-making.

He told Mr O’ Kelly he was aware the accused had been examined more recently where “grave concerns” were expressed about his ability to deal with difficult situations because of the functioning of the frontal lobe in the brain.

Dr O’ Neill agreed this would cause him to be unable to resist impulsive behaviour and that natural inhibitors would be affected.

He further agreed his condition in July 2010 “was very severe” and he had just come out of Tallaght Hospital.

Dr Kenneth Goulding told Mr McGinn he received a call at 8pm to go to Cronlea, Shillelagh where he assessed the deceased.

He said there were no signs of life and he was pronounced dead at 8.20pm but that he had been dead “no more than five minutes” as he “wasn’t stiff” and was “still warm”.

Dr Goulding told Mr O’ Kelly he also examined Cecil Tomkins who “was calm and his face was expressionless”.

He agreed Parkinson’s Disease could account for that expressionless face and that the medication he was on could lead to his calmness on the day.

The trial continues before a jury of nine men and three women presided over by Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan.