Murder accused ‘picked on’ by late partner, witnesses say

A 70-year-old man on trial accused of murdering his partner was “picked on” throughout their long relationship, a friend of the couple has told the Central Criminal Court.

Carmel Savage was called by the defence on Wednesday to give evidence in the trial of Desmond Duffy who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Desmond Sullivan (59) at their home in Somerville Park, Rathmines, Dublin on May 23rd, 2016.

Ms Savage told defence counsel Caroline Biggs SC she had known the deceased since she was a teenager and they were great friends. She remembered him meeting Mr Duffy at a pub they frequented in the 1980s.

Mr Duffy and Mr Sullivan “really liked each other”, she said, and started going out. The witness described Mr Duffy as a “lovely, soft, quiet” man. He was well educated and Mr Sullivan, who was more outgoing, looked up to him.

The first time she noticed anything wrong in their relationship was at her wedding in the mid-1980s. She said Mr Sullivan poured a pint over Mr Duffy’s head.

On another occasion, at Mr Duffy’s brother’s funeral, she said Mr Sullivan put a basket of food on Mr Duffy’s head. She felt bad for Mr Duffy and offered to let him stay at her house that night.

She knew he sometimes stayed in hotels when there was trouble with Mr Sullivan and she did not want him to be alone.

‘No reason’

Ms Savage said it was Mr Sullivan who would start the rows, and added: “Out of the blue, for no reason, he would pick on Desmond Duffy”. The accused, she said, would do nothing. “He would be the type to walk away,” she said.

She said Mr Sullivan used to tell her of the problems in the relationship and was embarrassed at the things he did.

Ms Savage agreed with prosecution counsel Ronan Kennedy BL that these incidents typically involved alcohol and Mr Sullivan was “mortified” when he was told he had dumped food on Mr Duffy at his brother’s funeral.

She further agreed that Mr Sullivan was good fun, generous, good craic and that they were good friends for 45 years.

Anne Quinlan told Ms Biggs that she was at Ms Savage's wedding in Killiney in the mid-80s and spent much of the evening with Mr Duffy and Mr Sullivan. At the end of the night Mr Duffy offered her a lift home, she said.

Ms Quinlan said she was in the back seat with Mr Sullivan in the front passenger seat and Mr Duffy driving. She could not remember what started it, but Mr Sullivan became “very agitated” and turned to face Mr Duffy and started punching him in the face and screaming at him.

“It went on and on and on,” she said.

Mr Duffy would slow down or stop the car and ask Mr Sullivan to stop and move on again,but Mr Sullivan kept hitting him in the head and upper body and screaming at him.

Ms Quinlan asked Mr Sullivan to stop and told him: “I have a five-year-old son. You are going to get us all killed.”

The trial continues.