A Dublin man was jailed for life yesterday after a jury at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty of the murder of another man after a fight at a phone-box in the city.
After deliberating for four hours, the jury of nine men and three women found Gerard (also know as Gerald) Dunne (29), Rafters Avenue, Drimnagh, guilty of the murder of Liam Thompson (20), Woodlawn Park Grove, Firhouse, Tallaght, on or about January 26th, 1999, at Dolphin's Road, Dublin. Mr Dunne had denied the murder .
The verdict was unanimously made by the jury with the mandatory life sentence backdated from January 29th, 1999, when Dunne was first taken into custody.
It is alleged that a row between Dunne and four men over the use of a public telephone kiosk escalated into a fight after which Mr Thompson was fatally stabbed with a steak knife.
This was the Central Criminal Court's third hearing of Mr Dunne's trial. His first conviction for the murder of Mr Thompson was overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal, which ordered a re-trial. The second trial collapsed after legal argument.
Yesterday the family of Mr Thompson cried at the back of the court as the guilty verdict was returned. Mrs Eileen Thompson yesterday said her family had to sit through three trials and as a result have "never been able to grieve". "The details of how Liam died are on my mind 24 hours a day," she said.
Mrs Thompson said she intends setting up an organisation called LIAM, which stands for Living in the Aftermath of Murder. "Liam's memory will never be forgotten," Mrs Thompson said.
During the eight-day trial the jury heard that Mr Thompson's grandfather had been buried on the day in question. After the funeral, the relatives of the family, including Mr Thompson and his uncles Mr Raymond Napier and Mr Harry Napier, went for a drink in the Rialto House pub off the South Circular Road. Mr Raymond Napier left the pub alone after 11 p.m. to get a taxi home. It was while Mr Napier was waiting for the taxi at a phone-box that it was alleged that a fight broke out between himself and Mr Dunne. Mr Dunne, it was claimed by Mr Napier, threatened to give him the "virus", implying HIV.
As the altercation broke out, Mr Harry Napier, Mr Eamonn O'Dowd and Mr Thompson ran to Mr Napier's defence. Mr Napier told the court that he regretted ever hitting the accused. "I regret that for the rest of my life because it ultimately led to the murder of my nephew. I would have gladly sacrificed my life for my young nephew to be here today," he said.
After the altercation, Mr Napier and Mr O'Dowd got taxis home, and Mr Thompson and Mr Harry Napier began to walk in the direction of Rialto Bridge. The prosecution claimed that Mr Dunne was re-joined by Mr Steven McNeill and another man who was also armed with a steak knife.
The trio, Mr Alex Owens SC, prosecuting, told the jury, ran after Mr Thompson and Mr Napier. Mr Owens said Mr Dunne was seeking "revenge" for the phone-box incident. The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, said Mr Thompson suffered a fatal wound to his heart, wounds to his abdomen and abrasions to the head and neck.