A 23-year-old man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with the murder of his father in Tipperary last year.
James McInerney of Lacey Avenue, Templemore, has pleaded not guilty to murdering James 'Jimmy' McInerney Snr, on 17 June 2009.
Opening the trial, prosecuting counsel Patrick Gageby said it was the case of the prosecution that the victim had been beaten to death with a spade.
He said there was an amount of family history and they may have some sympathy for the accused man.
The victim was prone to be quarrelsome and even more so when there was alcohol involved, he said.
The prosecuting counsel said the victim was bullying and argumentative. However, he urged the jury not to allow sympathy for the accused to sway the facts.
He told the jury that Mr McInerney Snr lived in a caravan at the back of the family home and was not allowed into the house when he had been drinking.
The court heard that on the night he died Mr McInerney Snr had a 'fair amount of drink taken' and came home and began ranting.
He smashed the windows of his son's van and a fight began between the two.
During that fight Mr McInerney Snr received injuries to his face, head and chest and medical evidence would show he may have been hit while on the ground.
After his arrest, the accused made statements to gardaí during which he accepted he had hit his father, but denied intending to kill him.
He used words like 'payback time' and said he may have gone a little too far but that he only intended to give him a beating.
The trial is expected to last six days.
