Ireland

FIVE FAMILY MEMBERS and a teenager used “medieval violence” to “butcher” father of seven in “an honour killing” during a Co Kerry funeral, carrying out a “biblical atrocity”

43-year-old Mr Thomas Dooley was killed at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry on October 5, 2022.

His younger brother, plus four other Dooleys and a teenager (presumably named Dooley; minors can't be named in the press under Irish law), have all pleaded not guilty. They gave a halting-site address.

Counsel said the trial had a combination of the macabre, a provincial tragedy and appalling medieval violence. Ultimately, he commented, it was a biblical atrocity of a case where one brother had killed another brother.

Counsel suggested the motive in the case was ‘reasonably clear’ and submitted it was because of an unhappy end to a childish relationship. Two teenagers were going out together (the daughter of the dead man + the son of one suspect), and the relationship had broken down. He said this had resulted in what some might call “an honour killing”.