Two men have been convicted of murdering a 64-year-old in his home by unanimous jury verdicts.
Sean Davy (21) of Clonmullen Drive, Edenderry, Co Offaly, and James Davy (25) of Thornhill Meadows, Celbridge, Co Kildare, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas 'Toddy' Dooley at Sr Senan Court in Edenderry on February 12th, 2014.
A third man, Matthew Cummins (22), of Churchview Heights, Edenderry, has pleaded not guilty and the jury will consider its verdict in relation to him on Friday.
At 4.33pm on Thursday the eight men and four women returned after just over eight hours of deliberations.
The foreman confirmed that they had reached a verdict against two of the accused, which the registrar read out as “guilty”.
Justice Margaret Heneghan asked the jury not to speak to anyone else about the case and to return Friday morning to further consider a verdict in relation to Mr Cummins.
Justice Heneghan has previously told the jury that there are four verdicts open to them. They could find Mr Cummins guilty of murder, or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty of murder but guilty of impeding the apprehension of an offender, or not guilty. She told them that the verdict of not guilty was “theoretical” and would not be logical given the evidence heard during the three-week trial.