A MAN told gardaí that after a lifetime of being beaten by his father, he finally flipped and killed him with a spade, the Central Criminal Court heard.
Det Garda PJ Ahearne was giving evidence of a Garda interview in the trial of James McInerney, Lacey Avenue, Templemore, Co Tipperary. The now 23-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering James “Jimmy” McInerney snr (56) at the family home on June 17th, 2009.
“Twenty-one years is a long time getting bet up,” he told detectives that night, explaining that his father was always violent.
“He’s one of the most evil men you could have met,” he said. “He broke my two arms by throwing me off a fence. He broke my legs when I was seven or eight.” He said his father had also beaten his mother constantly.
“He put her in hospital after beating her with a gas bottle over the head. She was pregnant at the time,” he recalled.
“Mammy has scars from 1989. My mother blames my father for the handicapped children she has for the beatings he gave her over the years,” he said in another interview, Det Garda Tom Kelly told the court.
The authorities were called to the family home shortly before 11pm on the night the victim died; they found him dead and his son admitting to the killing.
The young man told gardaí that he got up about 2pm that day as he had been drinking with his father the day before. His father asked him to bring him for cigarettes at about 3.30pm.
“He was always looking for an excuse to drink. I’d just bring him for peace sake. He came out [of the shop] with about 20 bottles of Budweiser.” They returned home and began drinking in his father’s caravan behind the house until his father began threatening him at about 7pm.
“Daddy was nearly always looking for trouble. It was in his nature and he’d take it out on us.”
He said his father called him handicapped and yellow but he walked away. The deceased had sold his caravan that day and the accused went to deliver it to its new owner. When he returned, his father began shouting abuse at him again, he said, banging on the back door with the shovel and calling him out.
He said he was in the house when he heard glass break in the yard and went outside.
“I flipped out in a rage. I was sick of it. I wasn’t able for anymore,” he said. “I saw my father with the spade in his hand after breaking the window in my van.” He said his father had done this thousands of times to his vans, cars and caravans.
“I told him to get the f**k away from the van,” he said. “He was backing away.” He said that as his father swung the shovel at him, he grabbed it out of his hand.
“I was sick of walking away. I walked away enough times,” he said when asked why he didn’t leave. “I wanted to stand my ground and get it over with.” He said he hit his father in the head with the spade and he fell to his knees. He hit him another couple of times in his head and gut.
“I threw the spade away. I knew I’d gone too far. It was too late. If I didn’t put daddy down, he’d have put me down,” saying it was self-defence.
“I hated the man but did not want to kill him. I did not want to go to jail for murder. I wanted him dead but didn’t want to do it. It’s a relief to me, even if I am going to jail, knowing that my mother will have peace.”
The trial continues before Mr Justice John Edwards.