TWO DUBLIN brothers have gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with murdering a father of six in the city over four years ago.
Warren and Jeffrey Dumbrell, aged 36 and 30, and both of Emmet Place in Inchicore, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Christopher Cawley in October 2006. Opening the case for the jury of 10 men and two women, Paul Burns SC, said it was the prosecution’s case that the two men had stabbed the 33-year-old father to death close to his flat.
On the day of the killing, October 29th, 2006, Mr Burns said Christy Cawley and his wife Janet had gone into town together with their eight-year-old son.
They returned at 4.30pm and about three hours later, Mr Cawley left his flat at Tyrone Place in Inchicore, where he lived with his wife and children, and went to an area of open ground near the flat complex. At about 8pm he was seen running back into the flat complex, pursued by two men, whom the prosecution say were Warren and Jeffrey Dumbrell.
“At the stairwell of the flats, Christy Cawley was attacked by these two men and set upon. In the course of the attack, he was stabbed a number of times.
“It’s the prosecution’s case that in the course of the attack, Warren and Jeffrey Dumbrell intended to kill or cause serious harm, and did indeed bring about Christopher Cawley’s death and are guilty of murder,” Mr Burns told the jury.
The two brothers left Mr Cawley bleeding heavily at the scene, Mr Burns said. The emergency services were called but despite attempts to save him, Mr Cawley was pronounced dead in hospital at 8.33pm.
The jury was also told it would hear evidence of the postmortem on Mr Cawley, which showed he had been stabbed six times. He suffered three stab wounds to the back, one to the left hip and one to the back of each thigh.
“I submit that when you have heard all of the evidence in this matter you will be satisfied, and satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused men are guilty of the murder of Christopher Cawley.” Mr Burns said.
A Garda photographer, Det Brian Cleary, told the jury that he photographed a knife outside 2 Tyrone Place during his survey of the scene. He described the weapon as a black-handled kitchen carving knife. The trial continues today and is expected to last for two weeks.