Father on trial for murder should not be responsible for sons' actions, court hears

By Eoin Reynolds

A man on trial for murder with his father and two brothers is guilty of manslaughter and not murder because he had lost all self-control when he chopped the deceased seven times with a sharp object, his barrister told the Central Criminal Court today.

The prosecution argued that Jason Bradley, who owed the deceased €9,000 for drugs, saw his debt reduce with every blow struck until the man was dead and his debt disappeared.

Jason Bradley.

Paul Bradley (54) and his sons Jason (20), Dean (24), and Ryan (18), of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, have all pleaded not guilty to the murder of Neil Reilly (36) at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin on January 18, 2017.

Michael Bowman SC, for Jason Bradley, asked the jury to find his client not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds that the deceased provoked him to the point where he lost all self-control.

He said the jury must consider what happened from Jason's point of view, a 19-year-old boy in debt to a drug dealer who has burgled his home, threatened him and on the night fired two shots at his home.

He said it is a struggle to suggest that any person acting in their right mind would have inflicted the injuries Mr Reilly suffered. He further rejected the suggestion by the prosecution that this was a cold and calculated act, and that with every blow struck, Jason Bradley was reducing his drug debt.

He asked them to look at the events at Esker Glebe in the context of everything that had happened and with Jason's knowledge of what Mr Reilly was capable of, a man who intended to cause serious harm to him and his family.

When Jason got out of his father's car, he could have expected that Mr Reilly or his companion was armed with a shotgun and prepared to use it.

"What would the mindset be to charge headlong into that environment?" counsel asked. Jason was "revved up on adrenaline in a situation rapidly spiralling out of control."

Mr Bowman said it is fanciful to suggest that he was engaged in a vigilante exercise of debt forgiveness. He took a life, but he had as he had lost all self-control he should be found guilty of manslaughter and not murder, Mr Bowman concluded.

Brendan Grehan SC, speaking for Paul Bradley, said his client, "is not a murderer and didn't murder anyone".

He is responsible for bringing his son Jason to Esker Glebe and must live with that, he said, but to find him guilty of murder would be to make him responsible for Jason's actions.

Paul Bradley admits that he drove after the deceased and that he kicked Mr Reilly while he was fighting with Jason. Mr Reilly did not die from a kick, he said, and there is no evidence that Paul Bradley did anything more than that.

He must take moral responsibility for bringing his son to Esker Glebe, but not legal culpability, Mr Grehan said. He asked the jury to acquit Paul Bradley.

During the trial two-month long trial the jury has heard that Jason Bradley owed Neil Reilly more than €9,000 for drugs and that Mr Reilly had previously broken into the Bradley home looking for his money and called to Jason's workplace to "put a word on him".

On the night he died, Mr Reilly fired two shots at the Bradley home leading to a car chase that ended with his death at Esker Glebe from several chop injuries inflicted by Jason Bradley to his head, body and arms and crush injuries from being run over by a car driven by Dean Bradley.

Dean and Paul Bradley.

In his closing speech to the jury prosecution counsel Paul Murray SC explained to the jury that to be guilty of murder, an accused person must intend to kill or cause serious injury.

He asked the jury to consider whether, when the Bradleys left their home following the shooting, their intention was to have a chat and shake hands and make peace with Mr Reilly.

Going through what happened in the lead-up to Mr Reilly's "savage and brutal" death, Mr Murray said that after firing shots at the Bradley home shortly before 4am Mr Reilly escaped in a white van.

Paul and Jason pursued him in Paul's jeep but couldn't find him as Mr Reilly had abandoned the van and got into a Mazda car driven by a friend. Dean Bradley was, at the same time, driving his BMW around the area with Ryan as a passenger.

Paul Bradley was heading back towards home when he called gardai to report that shots had been fired at his house.

While he was on the phone his car crossed paths with Mr Reilly's Mazda and, Mr Murray said, the voice of Jason Bradley can be heard from the passenger seat telling his father: "Go after them in that car," and, "Put up that phone and go after them. Go after them."

Mr Bradley, instead of telling gardai that he had found the shooter, pursued Mr Reilly to Esker Glebe where the Mazda crashed. Mr Reilly's friend escaped but Mr Reilly didn't, and it was Paul Bradley, counsel said, who brought about that situation.

Jason Bradley was there armed with a sharp implement because his father brought him there, he added.

Matthias Kelly SC, for Dean Bradley, said his client accepts that he ran over the deceased, but told the jury that this was "a pure accident".

He said an optometrist gave evidence that Dean's eyesight was defective and he should have been wearing glasses. Dean was driving at speed and Mr Reilly was on the road, on the ground, when he was struck.

Mr Kelly asked the jury to reject the evidence of Danielle Cusack, who said Dean's car drove over the deceased, then reversed over him and then drove over him a third time.

Mr Kelly said Ms Cusack was honest but mistaken. Counsel said there was "panic and chaos" following the shooting and that his client should be found guilty of manslaughter for gross recklessness, but not murder as he did not intend to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Reilly.

Mr Murray had earlier said the car going over Mr Reilly was no accident and asked the jury to consider that Dean drove from his home to Esker Glebe and then exchanged the blood-stained car for another BMW at his father's garage before returning to Liscarne Gardens.

On that journey the only person he struck was Neil Reilly.

Caroline Biggs SC, for Ryan Bradley, will deliver her closing to the jury of six women and five men on Monday. Justice Paul Coffey is presiding.