An elderly Kerry farmer was killed by injuries to his head with a blunt instrument that fractured his skull and almost severed his brain stem, a murder trial jury was told yesterday.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Patrick Daly would have died "very rapidly" from the injuries to his head.
She said that he died from "brain swelling, contusion and laceration due to blunt force trauma to the head". Dr Bolster said that the injuries were consistent with an attack using an iron bar that gardaí later recovered.
The jury has heard that Mr Daly's nephew, Mr Eugene Daly, told gardaí that he threw Mr Daly's body down a well after the accused's father, Mr Seán Daly, who is now dead, hit the victim with an iron bar over the head. Dr Bolster said that Mr Daly was dead before his body was put in the well.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Mr Brendan Grehan SC, Dr Bolster said that pieces of brain tissue were found on Mr Daly's jumper and shirt.
She said that injuries to the head had caused Mr Daly's death, the onset of which would have been "very rapid".
It was the third day of the trial of Mr Eugene Daly (29), Dooneen, Kilcummin, Killarney, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his uncle, Mr Patrick Daly (69), at Dooneen on January 18th, 1996.
Det Sgt William Brennan told the court that he saw Mr Daly's body in a well on his farm in Co Kerry. The body had been put in the well head first and the feet and legs were visible.
He said that the local fire service tied a rope to one of Mr Daly's ankles to pull the body out of the well.
Det Supt John O'Mahony said that during an interview with gardaí, Mr Eugene Daly was asked how did "things come to this". He replied: "Just years and years of troubles over money and the land. Dad was afraid Paddy would sell and the land would be lost. It got out of hand."
Det Supt O'Mahony told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Daly was asked if he had any remorse and he replied: "Indeed I do but I can't turn the clock back. I wish it would play differently." Earlier Mr Eugene Daly told gardaí that he had not told his brother Jim what had happened because he wanted to protect his father and himself.
"I was afraid if I told Jim the truth he would go nuts and turn us in to the police," he added.
He also said that his father had left the iron bar he used to hit Paddy Daly with against a wall. The accused said that he picked it up and washed it in a sink in his uncle's back kitchen. "There was blood at the end of it," he added.
He then put it in a barrel. "I was afraid gardaí would find it and we'd both be caught so I put it in a barrel," he said.
Det Supt O'Mahony said the accused also said he had burned his uncle's cigarette lighter, his pipe and possibly his cap.
He was asked where his brother Jim came in on this and he replied: "Nowhere. He knows nothing about it. We never told him. We just wanted to keep Dad and myself OK so we said nothing."
Cross-examined by Mr Grehan, Det Supt O'Mahony said he was aware that the accused's grandfather had inherited the farm in Co Kerry and had come from the United States to run it.
Mr Grehan said that he left it to his wife on his death and the accused's father, Seán, who was the elder of the two brothers, would normally have expected to get the family farm.
Mr Grehan said that what "upset the apple cart" was that Mr SeáDaly's partner did not "see eye to eye" with his mother. Det Supt O'Mahony agreed that Seáand Paddy came to an agreement that Seán would continue to work the farm and they would share the profits, but there were disputes.
Det Supt O'Mahony agreed that of the two sons Jim Daly was a "reasonably good worker" but the accused had no interest in much apart from watching cowboy and detective films on television. Mr Grehan said: "He had a preoccupation with the Mafia, cowboys and other criminal gangs."
The trial continues today.