Defendant in Cork murder trial disputes claim someone shouted 'I'm going to kill you' to postman

Evidence from the partner of 44-year-old postman Barry Daly that as she lay in bed she heard a shout - “I’m going to kill you” – was disputed by the 17-year-old accused of murder who told gardaí: “That was not said.” 

Memos of interviews given by the 17-year-old across more than eleven-and-a-half hours of questioning by detective gardaí were read by prosecution barrister Imelda Kelly to Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and the jury of seven women and five men at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

Evidence from the late Mr Daly’s partner Katie O’Reilly was put to the 17-year-old. She was in bed when she heard those words from outside the house. 

Gardaí said: “This is a woman who heard her partner being killed and she heard those words.” 

The teenager said, “Those words were not said.” Again it was put to him that her partner was being killed outside, and the teenager said" “Those words were not said. That was not said. It was not said.” 

Also put to him was Ms O'Reilly testimony: “The bang I heard was like someone getting a whack of something.” The 17-year-old said: “I heard no bang when I was there.” 

Evidence from John Glassett who overheard shouts when he was in the area after the time of the disputed incident in the front garden of the late Barry Daly’s home, was also put to the accused. 

Mr Glassett testified that he heard three shouts: “I told him I will f***ing kill him”; “he is sleeping in his front garden”; and “two blows.” The 17-year-old defendant said none of those three things was said.

Gardaí asked him if going to the home of Barry Daly went “according to plan”? 

The 17-year-old replied: “We were going up, expecting a fight, to be honest. No intention to kill… There was no plan, there was nothing, there was nothing planned, there was no plan. I didn’t hit him, didn’t do nothing, I didn’t hit him… I didn’t hit him or nothing along the lines of it.” 

Alex Deady (20) of Glenview, Convent Road, Doneraile, County Cork, and two juveniles, aged 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before the Central Criminal Court for their trial on the charge of murdering Barry Daly at Rockview Terrace in Doneraile on October 12, 2025. Alex Deady and the 17-year-old pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The 16-year-old simply pleaded not guilty to murder. The ages relate to the date of the incident.

Alice Fawsitt, senior counsel for the 17-year-old who is on trial, cross-examined Detective Garda Noelle McSweeney about what the 17-year-old said when interviewed by gardaí.

Ms Fawsitt said that he told gardaí he got golf clubs at home and brought them in to Doneraile and gave one to Alex Deady. Ms Fawsitt said there was evidence that there were various places where the clubs were beaten off walls and beaten off the ground. 

“The only person who is struck is the unfortunate Barry Daly. That is the prosecution evidence.

“Notwithstanding that (17-year-old) had a golfclub in his hand he used his head to head-butt Mr Seamus Hunter. He struck him – violently probably – with his head into the head,” Mr Fawsitt said.

Ms Fawsitt said that in effect his evidence could essentially be summarised as follows: “I went and got golfclubs. I went with (Alex) to the house. Barry Daly came out from behind a pillar, he swung at me, I ducked, Alex hit him. That is the account he gave in eleven-and-a-half hours.” 

Ms Fawsitt told the jury that the 17-year-old had no previous convictions, had never come to the attention of gardaí before, and that he had pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing harm to Seamus Hunter.

Mr Hunter testified that he was trying to stop the fighting and arguing that was going on on the street and when he saw young fellas with golfclubs, he roared: ‘What are ye f***ing at, ye f***ing knackers’. Then he said, ‘Lads, ye can’t go around with golfclubs, go home’. That was when he got head-butted into the nose by the 17-year-old.

Detective Garda David Kelleher examined the phones of several parties to the case and this enabled him to locate where in Doneraile they were at particular times. Ray Boland senior counsel for the 16-year-old defendant said that, from the phone data, the teenager was home all night until 1.44am on October 12, 2025.

Mr Boland said that some minutes later at 2.07am and 27 seconds, the 16-year-old’s phone was outside the gate of 2 Rockview Terrace and that in the minutes before this and shortly afterwards the locational pings for Barry Daly’s phone indicated that Mr Daly was in the front garden of 1 Rockview Terrace.

Questioning Det Garda Kelleher about the location showing for the 16-year-old’s phone at 2am. and 27 seconds, Mr Boland said that while the defendant’s distance from 1 Rockview Terrace appeared to be the length of two gardens it could have been closer or it could have been further away. Det Garda Kelleher agreed.

The trial goes into Day 12 on Monday June 22. Ms Justice Lankford repeated her warning to the jurors not to conduct their own investigations, not to discuss the case with others and certainly not to visit locations in Doneraile that have been referred to in evidence.