Defence counsel in the trial of six people charged with the murder of 42-year-old father of seven Thomas Dooley have challenged the prosecution's categorisation of the case as an honour killing.
Mr Dooley died when he was attacked as he attended a funeral in Tralee, Co Kerry on 5 October 2022.
The trial, at the Central Criminal Court in Cork, was in its 25th day today.
Before the court are: 36-year-old Patrick Dooley of 33 Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Co Kerry, a brother of the deceased; 43-year-old Thomas Dooley Senior and 21-year-old Thomas Dooley Junior, both of Bay 10, Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork; 29-year-old Michael Dooley of Bay 11, Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork; and 42-year-old Daniel Dooley, of An Caraigín, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry.
The sixth person is a teenager.
All six have pleaded not guilty.
Thomas Dooley junior has also pleaded not guilty to causing serious harm to Siobhán Dooley in the same incident.
In his closing speech to the jury on Friday, prosecuting senior counsel Dean Kelly submitted that "honour" had been offended when a relationship between the daughter of the deceased and one of the accused men had "broken down".
Today, senior counsel Tom Creed, for Thomas Dooley senior, described as "dog whistle rhetoric" the prosecution categorisation of the case as an honour killing.
He said this was based on the contention that there had been a falling out between the families, but it was not supported by the evidence of Siobhán Dooley, the wife of the deceased, that there was a falling out.
He said Mrs Dooley's evidence was that the families had stopped speaking to each other.
Referring to the reference to an honour killing, Mr Creed told the jury: "That kind of dog whistle rhetoric has no place in this case. Talk of medieval violence - it has no place [in the case]."
He asked the jury to put the rhetoric aside, start from a position of doubt and to examine everything.
"This is not a simple case - it is not as simple as the prosecution is portraying it," Mr Creed said.
Defence counsel also challenged how their clients could have had the time to have been involved in inflicting injuries, based on their examination of CCTV footage.
Senior Counsel Vincent Heneghan for Thomas Dooley junior asked the jury to carefully examine the CCTV footage.
He said it was an impossibility for his client to have had the time to enter the graveyard, make it to where the injuries were inflicted on Thomas and Siobhán Dooley and leave the cemetery in the timeframe shown on the footage.
Senior Counsel Jane Hyland, appearing for the teenager who is charged with Thomas Dooley's murder, said he would have had to cover a distance of up to 80 metres in eight seconds for the prosecution case to be correct.
She suggested that the jury conclude that Mrs Dooley was incorrect in her evidence in relation to her client.
Senior Counsel Ray Boland questioned the evidence in relation to his client, Michael Dooley. He said it had come from the evidence oif Siobhán Dooley, who had also named another man as being involved in the killing, when CCTV had shown him in Cork at the time of the funeral.
The trial is due to resume on Wednesday.
