Man killed in front of wife, court told

Two brothers stabbed a man to death in front of his wife and his oldest child, a court was told today.

Christopher "Christy" Cawley, a father-of-six, died of multiple stab wounds following an assault at the stairwell of a block of flats at Tyrone Place, Inchicore, Dublin, on October 29th, 2006.

Warren Dumbrell (34) and Jeffrey Dumbrell (29), both of Emmet Road, Inchicore, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Cawley.

Warren Dumbrell also also pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill Mr Cawley's wife, Janet.

Outlining the case for the prosecution at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cloverhill, Paul Burns SC said, on the day he died, Mr Cawley went into Dublin city centre with his wife and their eight-year-old son, Jordan.

His wife returned home at 2pm, and Mr Cawley and his son followed on at 4.30pm. Mr Cawley left the house at 7.30pm and went to a patch of waste ground near his home.

At 8pm he was seen running towards his flat complex being pursued by two men. Mr Burns said it was the prosecution's case that the two men were Warren and Jeffrey Dumbrell.

Mr Cawley was then stabbed six times – the fatal wound being to his left thigh, although stab wounds to his right thigh and stomach also contributed to his death.

Mrs Cawley told the jury of eight women and four men that her husband had gone out to collect his five-year-old son Lorcan who was playing outside. His eldest daughter Mairead was also outside.

She came out on to the balcony of their family home when she heard Mairead screaming.

Mrs McKenna told the court that she witnessed the Dumbrell brothers, who she had known for years, chasing her husband. Mr Cawley tripped in front of the stairwell to the flats where he was set upon by the two men.

Jeffrey Dumbrell had a wooden object that looked like a baseball bat or a hurley, she said, while Warren Dumbrell had a knife. She described the knife as being long and thick and between nine inches and a foot in length.

Mrs Cawley said she threw a toy car, belonging to one of her children, over the balcony which hit Jeffrey Dumbrell.

When the pair had finished assaulting her husband, Warren Dumbrell brandished a knife at her and shouted: “If you don't shut up, you'll be next”, she told the court.

She recalled that the brothers did not run away after the assault, but walked away “briskly”. When she finally reached her husband, he was just “staring into space, his eyes half shut”.

The case in front of Mr Justice Paul Carney continues.