Witness heard someone say 'I told him I will f***ing kill him' nearby Cork postman's house, murder trial told

Witness John Glassett also testified at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork that he saw three shadows in the direction of the late Barry Daly’s house

Paramedics found that Barry Daly (pictured) had a facial injury to his right cheek and immediately put him on their defibrillator and commenced what they called airway management of the patient. File picture

The trial of a 20-year-old and two teenagers for murdering a postman in his front garden heard from a witness on Thursday of seeing three shadows and hearing the shouts, “I told him I will f***ing kill him” and “he is sleeping in his front garden”.

Witness John Glassett testified at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork that he was in a friend’s house at Mallow Road, Doneraile, where there had been a death in the family that day.

In the early hours of October 12, Mr Glassett stepped out of the house on Mallow Road and heard voices coming from the direction of the late Barry Daly’s house at Rockview Terrace.

“There was a lot of noise. I didn’t know what was going on, it sounded like a disturbance. I seen three shadows… male voices. I heard someone shouting, 'Come on, (Christian name of 16-year-old accused)', 'I told him I will f***ing kill him', 'He is sleeping in his front garden', 'Two blows',” Mr Glassett testified.

“I heard what sounded like a golf club hitting the ground,” Mr Glassett added, and said that it was coincidental that he happened to be leaving his friend’s house at that time.

Cross-examined by Ray Boland, senior counsel for the 16-year-old, the witness said he heard the shout of “come on, (name)”, four or five times. Mr Glassett said that when he heard the shouts he described he had no idea which one of the three was talking.

Another witness, Robert Byrne, who was on the local hurling team that won the Junior B championship that was being celebrated in Doneraile that night, was in the smoking area of Eily’s pub talking to one of the accused, 20-year-old Alex Deady, when the late Barry Daly arrived and did not look in the direction of Alex. 

Mr Byrne said Alex told him he had a bit of an issue with Barry. Asked by prosecution senior counsel Lorcan Staines if he asked Alex what the issue was, Mr Byrne said: “I did, but I cannot recall what he said.” 

Mr Byrne said that later he saw Alex and the17-year-old who is also on trial. “There was definitely a golf club, I could not see how many. I saw Seamus Hunter getting a head-butt. I asked them (the two accused) ‘what the f*** are you doing?’ and there was no response. I went to see was Seamus OK. 

"They walked towards the church, up the town. I went back down by Eily’s. Next time I seen Alex and (17-year-old) was when they came back down the town… (Alex shouted) ‘Barry is knocked out on his grass’.” 

Alex Deady and two juveniles, aged 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are on trial charged with murdering 44-year-old postman, Barry Daly at Rockview Terrace in Doneraile on October 12, 2025. Alex Deady, aged 20, and the 17-year-old pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The 16-year-old simply pleaded not guilty to murder. The ages relate to the date of the incident.

Paramedic testimony

Paramedics responding to a call for an ambulance to go to 1 Rockview Terrace, Doneraile, at 2.15am on October 12, 2025, testified on Thursday also on what they found on arrival at the scene.

Padraig O’Connor and Paul O’Driscoll arrived in an ambulance in response to what was classified as a purple call, which is the most serious category of call. They found that Mr Daly had a facial injury to his right cheek and immediately put him on their defibrillator and commenced what they called airway management of the patient.

“He was in the driveway of the house, just inside the gate. By his head there was a log of wood and the head of a broken golf club,” Mr O’Connor said.

Local paramedic Seán Lehane was one of the those responding to the emergency call. He told prosecution barrister Imelda Kelly that he worked in the post office for eight or nine years with the late Barry Daly and did not realise that he was the person for whom the ambulance was called. 

When he later realised that it was Mr Daly, Mr Lehane’s senior officer said that he could step back from the efforts being made by the paramedics.

Mr Lehane described seeing the injury to Mr Daly’s right cheek and blood at the back of his head. “Despite all the efforts, he continued to be unresponsive,” the witness said.

Conor Ward said he saw the head of a broken golf club on the ground about two or three feet from the patient’s head. “It was an iron, what size I don’t know,” he said.

Pa O’Leary said he knew the late Barry Daly but said: “There was a large amount of bruising around the right side of his head. He was kind of unrecognisable. I didn’t know it was it him until a few minutes into it.” 

The trial before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and a jury of seven women and five men will not resume until 11am on Monday, June 15, at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.