'I knew he was dead': Partner of Cork postman tells murder trial how she found him in pool of blood

Barry Daly was found dead in Doneraile on October 12, 2025.

The partner of the late Barry Daly told the jury in the Doneraile murder trial on Friday that she found her partner in a pool of blood in their front garden and even though she knew he was dead she lay down beside him and begged him to come back.

A 17-year-old who cannot be named because of his age has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter of 44-year-old Barry Daly at Rockview Terrace in Doneraile on October 12, 2025.

On Friday, Katie O’Reilly described jumping out of bed, running out to their garden after two o’clock in the morning to find blood everywhere and lying down beside her partner of 20 years, 44-year-old Barry Daly, begging him to come back.

She had been lying in bed waiting for Barry to come home after he had been in Doneraile for the celebrations for the victorious Junior B hurling championship team. She said he was in great form that night after winning €600 in the lottery and he was starting holidays. 

Rather than bringing his house key which was on a ring with his car keys he would have knocked on the window to get in when he arrived home.

“I was inside in bed. I heard more than one person running. I heard, ‘I am going to kill you’, and Barry saying, ‘Stop’. I went out after that and found Barry,” Ms O’Reilly testified.

Asked by prosecution senior counsel, Lorcan Staines, if she heard anything else when she was in bed, she replied: “I heard someone getting a whack of something.” 

She continued her testimony: “Barry was lying on the ground, blood everywhere. I knew he was dead, I checked for a pulse, I knew he was dead.

“I was roaring at my mam to ring an ambulance… I lay down beside him, I kept begging for him to come back. Blood was coming out of his ears, his mouth, his nose, blood everywhere. The back of his head was smashed.” 

Defence senior counsel, Alice Fawsitt, cross-examined the witness and said at the outset in relation to her client: “He admitted going up to cause harm but he denied going up with the intention of causing serious harm or killing.” 

She said the teenager denied that the words, “I am going to kill you”, were said by anyone. Ms O’Reilly said those words were said by someone.

Ms Fawsitt said that in Ms O’Reilly’s statement to gardaí the following day she did not describe Barry saying, “Stop”. Ms O’Reilly agreed that she did not say it in her statement to the guards but she said Barry did say "Stop".

Seamus Hunter's testimony

Witness Seamus Hunter testified that he was trying to calm things in town in the early hours of last October 12 and when he saw two young fellas with golf clubs, the first thing that came out of his mouth was: "What are ye f***ing at, ye f***ing knackers". 

He said he approached them with his hands up to tell them they couldn’t go around with golf clubs and that they should go home. That was when he got head-butted into the left side of his nose by the 17-year-old.

Ms Fawsitt said the teenager had been charged with carrying out that assault on Mr Hunter and pleaded guilty to it. She put it to Mr Hunter that even though the 17-year-old “had a golf club in either hand he used his head (as the means of assault).” 

Mr Hunter replied: “Yeah, I suppose his hands were full.” Ms Fawsitt continued: “He did not use a golf club on you.” Mr Hunter said: “He wouldn’t have got a swing at me.” 

Mr Hunter later went up to Barry Daly’s house because he was worried about Barry. As he approached he heard someone say: “Come on, we have to get rid of these.” 

Then the witness added: “I saw (the 17-year-old) throw one of the golf clubs over the wall and I saw Alex throw one of the golf clubs over the wall”, a reference to 20-year-old Alex Deady of Glenview, Convent Road, Doneraile, County Cork.

Prosecution senior counsel, Lorcan Staines, said in his opening of the case: “He (the 17-year-old) said Alex Deady (20) hit Barry Daly but only hit him once, and he (the 17-year-old) did not do anything.

"The prosecution says that cannot be true in light of those injuries. We say it is fanciful that one blow from a golf club caused all those injuries.” 

Ms Fawsitt later clarified with the witness that he may not have been able to clearly see each golf club but that “the one from (the 17-year-old) was a half golf-stick”.

The trial before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and the seven women and five men of the jury continues on July 20.