Teen ‘in anguish’ when interviewed after man fatally beaten

A teenager accused of murder was pale, upset and showing signs of “anguish” when gardaí interviewed him hours after a man was beaten to death on a Dublin road, a murder trial has heard.

Ryan Bradley was 17 when a gunman fired two shots at his home before driving off in a white van. The prosecution alleges that Ryan Bradley, his father and two brothers chased the shooter for several kilometres before catching and beating him to death.

Paul Bradley (54) and his sons Jason (20), Dean (24), and Ryan (18), of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, have all pleaded not guilty to the murder of Neil Reilly (36) at Esker Glebe, Lucan on January 18th, 2017.

Det Sgt Gordon Woulfe told prosecuting counsel Paul Murray SC that he arrived at the Bradley home at about 4.30am. He said Dean Bradley arrived at the house driving a dark-coloured BMW with Ryan Bradley in the passenger seat within half an hour of his being there.

Det Sgt Woulfe noticed a small amount of blood on Ryan Bradley’s tracksuit bottoms, which the accused said was the result of his brother Jason cutting his hand earlier in the day. The tracksuit bottoms and BMW were taken as evidence.

Wheels spinning

Dean Bradley and Ryan Bradley later went voluntarily to Ronanstown Garda station to give statements, with the former saying he was watching television with his girlfriend when he heard wheels spinning and then two “very loud” gunshots.

He said he heard his father shouting and when he looked outside he saw a white van driving off. He put on his shorts and a grey top and went out the front door. “It all felt in slow motion,” Dean Bradley told gardaí.

He said that with Ryan Bradley in the passenger seat he drove around for a while but saw nothing and then returned home to find gardaí had arrived in response to reports of shots being fired.

Ryan Bradley told gardaí that he woke up to screaming and shouting and ran downstairs. He said his dad was shouting “youse bastards” and that he ran outside and down the road before being picked up by Dean Bradley.

He said they drove around but that his mind was blank and he was shaking. He could not remember where they went and told gardaí he did not know who shot at their home. He said he thought the person had targetted the wrong house.

‘Something bad’

Det Sgt Woulfe agreed with Caroline Biggs SC, for Ryan Bradley, that her client had no previous convictions and that he was pale and upset.

“I could see something bad had happened,” he said, adding that his body language suggested that he was “in anguish”.

Garda Rachel O’Malley, of the Garda Technical Bureau, told Mr Murray that she identified a fingerprint belonging to the deceased in a Mazda car found in the road facing in the wrong direction near where Mr Reilly was found injured and dying.

She also found a finger print matching Mr Reilly’s son Dean on a mobile phone found in the car and a number of fingerprints belonging to another man in the car.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey told the jury to return to court on Tuesday.