‘Honour killing’ appeal: Cousin says he was wrongly linked to Kerry funeral attack

Fiona Magennis

Lawyers for a man appealing his conviction for the murder of Thomas 'Tom' Dooley in an “honour killing” during a funeral in Co Kerry have argued the case should have been withdrawn from the jury because he was “misidentified as a person who was at the violent attack”.

“We say that in this case there was a misidentification of Michael Dooley and the evidence was weak and the judge should therefore have directed an acquittal,” said Seamus Clarke SC, representing Michael Dooley, the deceased man’s cousin.

The 31-year-old is one of three men appealing his conviction for the murder of Thomas Dooley at a graveyard in Kerry.

Michael Dooley and Thomas Dooley Jnr (23), the victim’s nephew, both with addresses at Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and Patrick Dooley (38), the deceased’s younger brother, of Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Co Kerry, had all pleaded not guilty to the murder of Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry, on October 5th, 2022.

The men were among six defendants, including a teenage boy, who were found guilty of murder by a jury who deliberated for nearly 21 hours over five days at the Central Criminal Court in Cork in 2024.

Mr Dooley died when he was violently attacked by six men as he attended a funeral at Rath Cemetery and suffered what the State described as savage injuries, inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with "focused and murderous ferocity" in broad daylight.

In his closing speech, prosecuting counsel Dean Kelly SC said the men had used "medieval violence" to "butcher" the father-of-seven in "an honour killing" during the funeral, carrying out a "biblical atrocity" that was "tragic and heartbreaking as it was ridiculous and stupid".

Mr Kelly said that "honour" had been offended when Thomas Dooley's daughter had refused to marry Thomas Dooley Junior and their relationship broke down. He submitted that this was "a score that was to be settled".

At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Seamus Clarke SC, for Michael Dooley, argued the trial judge made an error in failing to direct that the case be withdrawn from the jury following an application by the defence.

He highlighted the fact that Siobhan Dooley had misidentified another man as Daniel Dooley, one of the other defendants in the case, because she said the two men were “an awful lot alike”. He said Ms Dooley had not sought to correct this mistake before the trial.

Mr Clarke added that where identification evidence is of poor quality, a judge may, in certain circumstances, direct a jury to acquit.

He said Michael Dooley’s case was that, although he was present at the graveyard, he was “misidentified as a person who was at the violent attack”.

He said evidence from other witnesses of seeing Michael Dooley at the graveyard was “not incriminatory of him being involved in the attack”.

Mr Clarke also argued that the judge’s handling of the misidentification evidence given by Siobhan Dooley in her charge to the jury lacked “the necessary emphasis” in relation to his client.

In response, Dean Kelly SC, for the DPP, said Siobhan Dooley referred to Michael Dooley being present and standing behind her husband with a weapon. She was asked in court if she could identify him and correctly pointed to Michael Dooley in the dock.

He said another witness placed Michael in the graveyard and amongst the group running away in the aftermath of the attack. Mr Kelly said that fitted with CCTV footage showing a group of men getting into two white vans and one grey van following the attack.

He said the three vehicles left in the same direction and took a succession of back roads heading south and making their way back to Cork. Mr Kelly said a Hiace van entered an area of wasteland at around lunchtime and exactly half an hour later a Transit van entered the same site.

The Transit van was abandoned at the site, counsel said, and the Hiace van was stopped by gardaí a short time later with Michael Dooley and others found in the back of the vehicle.

“I say those movements, in circumstantial circumstances, are highly suspicious and are matters in which a jury could draw inferences,” he said.

Mr Kelly said Michael Dooley was detained and when asked to account for his presence at the cemetery he “had nothing to say”.

Mr Kelly said the misidentification issue was “the beginning, middle and the end” of the trial judge’s directions to the jury.

He said the judge referred to it constantly as she was going through the evidence and the jury “couldn’t have had a waking hour” where they would not have been aware of its importance.

Mr Kelly said the misidentification “was a mistake” but noted it had “nothing at all to do with Michael”. He said the issue, while important in terms of the credibility of witnesses, “has no relevance here”.

On the first day of the appeal hearing yesterday, Thomas Dooley Jnr’s barrister, Thomas Creed SC, argued that his arrest and detention by gardaí was unlawful, while Patrick Dooley’s senior counsel Michael O’Higgins contended that a “leading question” put to a witness about a sword or machete allegedly held by Patrick should not have been permitted into evidence at the men’s trial.

After the appeal hearing concluded today, Mr Justice John Edwards said the court would reserve judgment in the case.

Five of the defendants were given life sentences by Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring at Cork Courthouse on July 30th, 2024.

Passing sentence on the five men, Ms Justice Ring said there had been protestations of innocence and miscarriages of justice made by the defendants in court.

"Let's be clear, the only innocents were the late Thomas Dooley, his wife and their children. The only miscarriage of justice was the taking of his life and the loss to his family," she stressed.

The judge said no explanation for the decision to kill Thomas Dooley had ever been proffered. "No explanation could excuse his death. The violence in this case was totally unwarranted and unspeakable," she said.

A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 11 years in jail with the final three years suspended in March 2025.

The youth, who was a juvenile when the attack on Thomas Dooley took place, was sentenced following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling which held that life sentences for a child convicted of murder should only be imposed in exceptional cases where the evidence showed the intentions and actions of the child were akin to those of an adult.

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