Young man jailed for his part in murder of Thomas Dooley in Kerry graveyard
Thomas Dooley was murdered at New Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, on October 5, 2022. Picture via Facebook
A young man was jailed on Monday for eight years for his part in the murder of 43-year-old father-of-seven Tom Dooley at the graveyard in Tralee in October 2022.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said that because of a Supreme Court ruling, this 19-year-old cannot be identified because he carried out the crime when he was 17 and that also because of his age he did not have to get the mandatory life sentence imposed on his five accomplices.
In all the circumstances, the judge said the appropriate sentence was one of 11 years with the final three years suspended and backdated to July 18, 2024, and she imposed this at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork today. A condition of the suspension of the last three years requires him to keep away from and have no direct or indirect contact, including by social media, with the family and extended family of the late Tom Dooley.
Referring to the evidence, the judge noted that witnesses variously described the weapon carried by this teenager on the morning in question as an axe or something resembling a baseball bat.
Aggravating factors noted by the judge included the fact that the victim was a defenceless man attacked by several people with weapons in two minutes of violence that left him dead. The judge said that the deceased’s concerns in the last moments of his life were to protect his wife and children.
The only explanation for the attack arose out of animosity between families about the failed relationship between two young people, even though both parties had moved on with their lives. Ms Justice Ring said the perceived slight grew and festered until a life was lost.
Pre-planning and the bringing of weapons to a public place were also aggravating factors.
In mitigation, the judge said that through his dealings with the probation service since convicted the teenager had shown signs of remorse and had returned to education within the prison setting. She said he was in legal terms a child when he committed this murder.
The young man is the first person to be sentenced for murder since the law changed recently for cases involving juveniles and life sentences. Life sentences were handed down last year to five of the men who carried out the murder.
At the sentencing hearing in February – which had been adjourned until Monday - Detective Sergeant Mark O’Sullivan said the teenager was one of several people who surrounded Tom Dooley who arrived at the cemetery for a funeral with his wife and four of his younger children.
Within a minute he was surrounded and fatally attacked by the men wielding various weapons. His widow Siobhán had to flee with the children as the attackers ran to getaway vehicles parked near the entrance to the cemetery.
In February she described the impact that the murder had on her and the seven children: “Thomas always had good time for everyone. He hated trouble or hassle and hated to see anyone suffer trouble or hardships and always tried to help people. He was a pure softy. On the day of Thomas’s murder… I had no idea of the horror show we were about to see. What (we) witnessed that day in the graveyard will never leave us.
“What happened in the graveyard that day will have an everlasting impact on me. I will never understand why Thomas was murdered in the most horrible way. He was such a softy who was never a troublemaker. And the way in which he left this world was just not fair to him. In his last words to me he told me to run so that (we) could be saved.
“It was important to me to be there (in court) for Thomas. I made a promise to Thomas on the day we put him in the ground that I would get justice for him. And justice we did get for him.
“As a family, we will never get over what happened to Thomas. That horror will never leave us. To lose someone to God is always hard but the way he was murdered is a death that no one ever deserves and certainly not my Thomas. I am blessed to have my babies and my grandbabies and together we will always talk about Thomas and keep his memory alive.”
Det. Sergeant O’Sullivan read the victim impact statement on her behalf.
The accused man said in a letter of apology read by defence senior counsel Jane Hyland on his behalf: “I want to take full responsibility for the actions and wrongdoing, for what I should have said in court. I am sorry for my part. If I could change things and turn back time I would never have got involved or been there.
“I want to say how sorry I am. I never again want to make bad choices in life. I just want to change for the better. I am so sorry. I would appreciate it if the family could know I am sorry.”
Defence senior counsel Jane Hyland asked Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring to take into consideration the fact that he was 17 at the time and was in the company of much older people.
“He impresses his probation officer with the genuineness of his remorse. He made it clear he was not forced to be there. He has done extremely well in prison. He now fully accepts responsibility for his part in this matter,” Ms Hyland said.
Ms Justice Ring said: “The unforgivable part is that on seeing young children, the attack continued. That is clearly an aggravating part, along with other elements. It is not a murder that arose spontaneously so to speak.
"People travelled a distance with a purpose in mind and armed themselves for that purpose at a cemetery. Those are uniquely aggravating factors in this case.”
The 34-day trial ended with the conviction of 42-year-old Daniel Dooley of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, County Kerry, for the murder. Earlier in the trial, the jury of 10 men and two women delivered guilty verdicts on 29-year-old Michael Dooley, of the halting site, Carrigrohane, Cork, Patrick Dooley, aged 36, from Arbutus Grove, Killarney – brother of the deceased, and on Thomas Dooley Sr, aged 43, and his son Thomas Dooley Jr, aged 21, both from the halting site, Carrigrohane, Cork.
The mandatory life sentences were imposed on them by Ms Justice for the murder 43-year-old Tom Dooley from Hazelwood Drive, Killarney, at New Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, on October 5, 2022. Thomas Jr. was additionally given a four-and-a-half-year concurrent sentence for assault causing harm to the dead man’s widow, Siobhán.
