A 27-year-old Cork man has been given a life sentence for murder after unexpectedly changing his plea.
A second man was acquitted by direction of the judge, in a surprise development in the third week of a murder trial at the Central Criminal court.
After hearing evidence against him for the past two weeks, Martin 'Mollie' O'Leary, of Nutley Road, Mahon, Cork, yesterday pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Derek O'Connell (27), at Blackrock Castle on September 15th, 2002.
The second accused, Philip Dorney (25), of Nutley Avenue, Mahon, Cork, had pleaded guilty to four counts of intimidation and a fifth count of impeding the arrest and prosecution of O'Leary when he knew he was responsible for the murder. Both men had denied murder and seven further charges of intimidating witnesses.
Mr Justice Barry White directed the jury to acquit Dorney of the murder charge. O'Leary was given a mandatory life sentence, backdated to September 20th, 2002, when he was taken into custody.
Dorney was given four and a half years for each of his five offences, all to run concurrently and also backdated to September 20th, 2002.
Speaking afterwards, Mrs Pat O'Connell, mother of Derek O'Connell, spoke of her anger at Dorney's sentence. "Four and a half years is a disgrace as far as I'm concerned. Life? He'll soon be walking around - I'm the only one with the life sentence."
When asked if she felt anything towards her son's murderer, Mrs O'Connell replied, "Nothing. I wouldn't even compare them to animals. Animals wouldn't do that to their own."
Mr O'Connell's older sister, Ms Tanya O'Connell, had earlier testified about the effect of his death on her family: "My mother will never be the same again. Derek was very good-natured and didn't have a bad bone in his body." She added: "My younger sister Yvonne had been badly affected by his murder. She is very withdrawn." Mr O'Connell's father was also present in court.
Mr O'Connell's badly beaten body was found by a group of teenagers who were walking near Blackrock Castle at 7 p.m. on September 15th, 2002. He had severe head injuries consistent with being beaten about the head with a hurley. The murder weapon was never recovered but several witnesses testified to seeing a "stick" or a "branch of a tree" thrown into the River Lee at Blackrock Castle that day. O'Leary was seen carrying a hurley as he walked with Mr O'Connell that afternoon.
The jury heard that Mr O'Connell was a relative stranger in town and had only met the two accused a fortnight before his death.
Det Gda Dave O'Regan testified yesterday that the prime motivation for the murder was hostility over drug dealings towards Mr O'Connell by the two accused. Det Gda O'Regan said O'Leary had spent most of his life in foster care. "He looks to please people - he's easily led." He confirmed that Mr O'Connell was lured to his death by O'Leary who asked him to take a walk with him at Blackrock Castle to find a stash of drugs.