A jury has viewed “upsetting and difficult” animal attack videos taken from the phone of a trespasser who was shot dead on a law professor’s farm, which they also heard included footage of dogs being “trained” to attack a live kitten.
In the video clips, a lurcher dog – which was shot by leading barrister Diarmuid Phelan moments before he said three intruders “exploded” out of the bushes on his farm – is seen fighting over a live squirrel, mauling a badger and shaking a dead fox between its teeth.
A detective agreed with defence counsel that “the activity” in the videos was conducted “with considerable good humour, laughter and there is enjoyment to be had” by those present.
In her opening address, Roisin Lacey SC said the jury would hear evidence that on the day in question three men, including the deceased Keith Conlon and Kallum Coleman, had trespassed on a wooded area of Mr Phelan’s land while hunting foxes or badgers.
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Mr Phelan (56) has pleaded not guilty to murdering father of four Keith ‘Bono’ Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on February 24th, 2022. The accused man is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove, formerly a golf course, in Tallaght.
Mr Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was seriously injured in the shooting incident on February 22nd and died from a single gunshot wound to the head at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.
Ms Lacey, prosecuting, told the jury on Monday it was proposed that videos be played to them and that Detective Garda Mark Short would give evidence about the videoclips.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford then warned the jurors that the material about to be played was “somewhat upsetting and difficult” to view and to let her know if they needed a break. She said the length of the videos was no more than eight or nine minutes in total and repeated that it was “somewhat upsetting material”.
The jury were then shown eight videos which came from the deceased’s phone.
Under cross-examination, Sean Guerin SC, defending, put it to Det Gda Short that in all the videos the activity was being conducted with considerable good humour, laughter and there was enjoyment to be had. Gda Short agreed.
Mr Guerin said the videos showed what happens at various stages of the hunting process. But, he said, the ability to hunt successfully depends on the terrier being willing to seize and hold the quarry; the badger or fox. “And equally the willingness of the lurcher to chase, catch and kill,” he added.
The detective agreed that animals have to be trained to do these things and a video recorded on Mr Conlon’s phone – from November 2021 – showed how this was done.
Describing a recording which was not shown to the jury, Mr Guerin said a cage is placed in the cargo hold of the back of a van containing a kitten and a small dog, which is a pup. A number of male voices can be heard encouraging the pup to attack the kitten and the pup makes a number of efforts to do this.
“But it is repelled by the kitten and the pup appears to lose interest,” said counsel.
Mr Guerin said when the pup is released from the cage by one of the men, another older and bigger dog, which is a bull terrier, is introduced to the cage. The second dog enters the cage and is again encouraged to attack the kitten by numerous male voices.
“The older and bigger dog attacks the kitten and as it is doing so it is encouraged by male voices to continue the attack. As that is happening the pup is reintroduced to the cage and the pup is encouraged to participate in the attack by the bigger dog and it does that,” he continued.
Mr Guerin said the larger dog seized the kitten with his jaws and mauled it. The gardaí said the dog seized the kitten with his teeth.
Counsel said the pup appears to be encouraged enough in the attack to join the older dog.
The 12 jurors were also told by the State in their opening address that Mr Phelan said he was shaking with fear and “scrambled” up a bank to get away, but when the deceased man Keith Conlon and a second man kept coming he believed they were “coming to fulfil the threats they had made”.
As they got closer, Mr Phelan said he reached for his Smith & Wesson revolver in his pocket and fired in the air over their heads but was “stunned when one man went down”, the court has heard.
In her opening speech, Ms Lacey said she expects the defence case to be that the accused was entitled to discharge the firearm in a legitimate act of self defence.
They will say that it was not done with the intention of causing the bullet to penetrate Mr Conlon’s body and that the penetration was an accidental, unintended result, she said.
The State’s case, Ms Lacey said, is that when the third shot was fired the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased, who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave.
“In those circumstances we say the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury,” counsel said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women.
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