A 70-year-old accused of murdering his partner has told his trial that he is heart-broken and didn’t mean to harm his life partner of 36 years.
Desmond ‘Des’ Duffy has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Desmond ‘Dessie’ Sullivan (59) at the home they shared in Somerville Park, Rathmines, Dublin 6 on May 23rd 2016.
Mr Duffy told defence counsel Caroline Biggs SC at Central Criminal Court that he was defending himself from an attack by his “abusive” and “violent” partner.
He added: “I feel so sorry for his family, especially his mother who I was very close to, his sister and others but I’m still grieving, devastated and heart-broken by what happened. I have lost my partner of 36 years and I will never ever get over that.”
He further told his trial: “It was never my intention to hurt him or injure him.”
The accused began by telling Ms Biggs he wasn’t there to blacken Mr Sullivan’s name and added: “You don’t spend 36 years of your life with somebody you don’t love. We had our problems but Dessie also had his good sides.”
He stayed with Mr Sullivan despite the abuse and told Ms Biggs that we knew of women who stayed in abusive and violent relationships and male sexuality was no different.
“I covered it up and I denied it,” he said, “and at the end of the day I did love the man.”
Describing the night Mr Sullivan died, he said they had been drinking in a local pub and when they got home Mr Sullivan began to verbally abuse him and punched him in the face repeatedly.
On other such occasions Mr Duffy said he would go to a local hotel, or, if he didn’t have enough money, walk the streets or sit in a local park. On this occasion Mr Duffy went to bed, hoping to de-escalate the situation but not wanting to leave the house having had a lot to drink. But the attack continued in the bedroom, he said, and Mr Sullivan took his credit card from him and told him: “Fuck off, go stay in your fucking hotel now.”
Mr Duffy went downstairs to get his jacket and leave but Mr Sullivan told him he had hidden it and he wasn’t getting it.
‘Emotional’
Mr Duffy was emotional when he told Ms Biggs: “If my jacket had been there I would have put it on and walked out and none of us would be sitting here today.”
On finding that his jacket wasn’t there Mr Duffy argued back, something he said he normally wouldn’t do. He told Mr Sullivan to stop and told him he couldn’t keep doing this. He pushed Mr Sullivan and put up his right hand to push him against a wall, “to put distance between him and myself”. He put his hand around Mr Sullivan’s neck, to restrain him.
“I had no intention of causing him harm,” he said.
Mr Duffy was pushing Mr Sullivan by the neck and Mr Sullivan was pushing back and kicking him. He added: “Then suddenly he just slid down along the wall and, I had my hands away, and he rolled over on to his side.”
He said he didn’t know Mr Sullivan was dead. It wasn’t unusual for him to fall over and previously he had always gotten up. Mr Duffy called Maurice Ward, a garda and a relative of the deceased. He said he only realised Mr Duffy was dead when Mr Ward arrived at the house.
Prosecution counsel Conor Devally SC put it to Mr Duffy that he acted in anger after years of abuse and didn’t need to do what he did to protect himself from Mr Sullivan, the smaller man. Mr Duffy disagreed and said he was acting in self defence and never intended to harm his “life partner of 36 years”.
The defence also called several witnesses who detailed the abusive nature of the relationship.
Jimmy Heaslip told Ms Biggs that Mr Sullivan, whom he knew as “Little Des”, was “the boss”.
On one occasion Mr Heaslip was in their home and Mr Duffy spilt a bowl of dry dog food on the floor. Mr Heaslip said: “Little Des demanded he get on his hands and knees and pick it up.” Mr Duffy did as he was told.
On another occasion Mr Duffy called to Mr Heaslip’s house at 6.30am. He had been walking the streets because Mr Sullivan had thrown “every pot plant in the garden at him”.
Stephen Healy said he was in Grace’s Pub in Rathmines when Mr Sullivan poured a pint over Mr Duffy and later laughed about it, telling people in the pub that he had told Mr Duffy to “fuck off”.
Melissa Farrell said she was very close to both men, they were in the mourning car at her mother’s funeral and were a great support to her. She loved Mr Sullivan, she said, and described him as fun and kind, but over the years she also saw a nasty side to him. He liked to argue with people and wouldn’t allow Mr Duffy to speak, would tell him to shut up.
“It had to be all about Dessie Sullivan,” she said and she could see Mr Duffy losing confidence.
The trial continues tomorrow in front of Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of six men and six women.