Man (19) to become sixth person sentenced for murder of Tom Dooley in Kerry graveyard

The sixth man who denied murdering 43-year-old father-of-seven Tom Dooley at the graveyard in Tralee in October 2022 but was convicted by a jury last July, said today that he now accepts responsibility for his actions.

The young man will be 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. 

Sentencing of the teenager was adjourned until today because of issues arising out of the fact that he was a juvenile at the time of the murder. 

The law has just changed to allow judges to depart from the mandatory life sentence where the crime is committed by a juvenile who later turns before he is convicted. 

This young man was 17 at the time of the murder and 19 when he was convicted.

Because the law is so new there were no previous cases with which this sentencing could be compared. 

It was noted in court that this will be the first. Donal O’Sullivan prosecution senior counsel said that for the DPP there literally was not another sentence to which reference could be made.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said she was anxious to consider this sentencing and to “get it right” so she adjourned sentencing until March 31. The judge added that she was not removing the order preventing identification of the accused.

Detective Sergeant Mark O’Sullivan went through the background to the case with the prosecution senior counsel at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

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.

Today 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 wrong doing, 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.” 

Ms 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. 

“I would ask you to take into consideration that his culpability is not as high as others involved in this incident.

“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 today: “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 ten men and two women delivered guilty verdicts on 29-year-old Michael Dooley, of the halting site, Carrigrohane, Cork, Patrick Dooley, 36, from Arbutus Grove, Killarney – brother of the deceased, and on Thomas Dooley Sr, 43, and his son Thomas Dooley Jr, 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.