A 29-year-old man died as a result of brain injuries caused by being punched and kicked in the head after he was pushed to the ground, a jury will hear in the trial of two men accused of his murder.
Jordan Deasy (19) of Ravensdale, Heron’s Wood, Carrigaline, Co Cork and Ricardo Hoey (21) of Ardcarraig, Carrigaline, Co Cork denied the murder of Matthew O’Neill at Glenwood, Carrigaline on December 28th, 2022 when they were arraigned at the Central Criminal Court sitting Cork on Monday.
Mr O’Neill never regained consciousness following the assault and died at Cork University Hospital on January 8th, 2023, prosecution counsel, Jane Hyland SC told the trial.
Opening the prosecution case to the jury of six men and six women, Ms Hyland explained that what she was about to tell them was not evidence but rather an outline of what the State alleges and expects to call in support of its charge that the two accused murdered Mr O’Neill.
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She said the State would allege that Mr O’Neill was returning to his home at Glenwood Close in Carrigaline after buying a bottle of wine at a nearby garage when he was assaulted by the two accused.
She said the jury would hear evidence from a witness, John McGovern, that he came upon a scene in Glenwood at about 5.35pm on the day in question and saw an Opel Astra stopped in the middle of the road with the front doors open and two men standing beside it.
The prosecution would allege that two men were the accused and that a third man, Mr O’Neill, lay on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. She said Mr McGovern raised the alarm as the two men left the scene and a passing doctor came to Mr O’Neill’s aid.
Mr O’Neill was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and was put on a ventilator, she said, adding that he never regained consciousness and died on January 8th.
Ms Hyland said the jury would hear that a postmortem examination carried out by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster found that Mr O’Neill died from brain injuries due to blunt force trauma, which was a probable consequence of blows to the head and a fall.
Within an hour of the incident being reported to gardaí, Mr Hoey presented at a local Garda station. Mr Jordan was subsequently brought to a Garda station where both men were questioned and later charged.
It would be the State’s case that Mr Hoey, who was driving the car, and Mr Deasy, who was a passenger, got out of the car and attacked Mr O’Neill. She said it was alleged that Mr Hoey pushed Mr O’Neill to the ground and Mr Deasy punched him a number of times in the face while Mr Hoey kicked him in the head.
Gardaí had obtained CCTV footage, she said, noting that while it did not depict the actual incident very clearly, they did have clear footage of Mr O’Neill’s movements up until the alleged ssault and the accused’s movements both before and after the incident.
The scene was cordoned off and examined forensically as was clothing belonging to the accused, the jury heard. A sample of Mr O’Neill’s blood was found on one of Mr Hoey’s socks, said Ms Hyland.
The case continues before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford.
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