A LAOIS father of three has been cleared at the Central Criminal Court of murdering a cattle farmer in a row over a stray animal.
Daniel Joseph “DJ” Byrne (39) had pleaded not guilty to murdering 49-year-old father Edward Dempsey on October 11th, 2007. Mr Dempsey died in Portlaoise hospital on that date, 10 months after being involved in a row with Mr Byrne at the Byrne farm on Hammer Lane, Borness, Co Laois.
Mr Byrne’s brother, Jason Byrne (33), who had also been on trial for the murder, was acquitted on Wednesday by unanimous verdict. He too had denied the charge. He had told the court that while he was present in the yard at the time of the row, he played no part in it, nor did he hit the farmer across the legs with the handle of a brush as he’d been accused.
The brothers, who work together as building contractors, have addresses side by side at Hammer Lane.
The prosecution argued that the ultimate cause of his death was the blow to the head struck by DJ Byrne on December 18th, 2006.
Extensive medical evidence in the case supported this argument, with medical experts saying the head injury was a “substantial” cause of death, and Mr Dempsey never properly regained consciousness after the incident.
Mr Byrne admitted to the jury, that he hit Mr Dempsey across the head with a wooden shovel handle on the day in question, but said he had been “purely defending” himself.
Mr Dempsey had arrived at the yard with his brother, John, to get back a heifer they owned that had strayed on to the Byrnes’s land.
Mr Byrne described for the jury how John shouted at Mr Dempsey and encouraged him to go into the yard, saying he couldn’t be stopped. He said the farmer had slammed the gate with his fists saying “I’m f***ing going in there and no one’s going to f***ing stop me.” He said Mr Dempsey then pushed the gate in, knocking him backwards and into his brother, Jason, who was also in the yard.
Mr Byrne said Mr Dempsey shouted at them that they were “bastards” and “scum”, and was towering over him with his fists closed. He recalled the farmer saying there was “bad, dirty breeding” in him, a comment he took to refer to his daughter who has Down syndrome.
Mr Byrne said he hit the farmer with a shovel handle he’d been using to separate cattle, as he continued to slip backwards and Mr Dempsey continued to come towards him. He said Mr Dempsey fell to the ground in a sitting position, and was then dragged out of the yard by John.
John Dempsey said Mr Byrne and Jason were smiling with their hands resting on sticks and invited his brother into the yard.
He said they looked like madmen, and once Mr Dempsey was inside, they turned on him and started beating him with sticks.
John Dempsey said Mr Byrne hit his brother “full-force” across the head, while Jason hit him on the legs so hard he could hear the bone cracking. No medical evidence was found to support Jason’s involvement.
The jury reached its decision on Mr Byrne yesterday after almost 11 hours of deliberations.