Five men found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork of the murder of 42-year-old father-of-seven Thomas Dooley have been given mandatory life sentences.
All are members of the dead man's close and extended family.
One of the men, who was also found guilty of assaulting Mr Dooley's wife, Siobhán, has been sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
He is Thomas Dooley junior and that sentence will be served concurrently with his life sentence.
The five men jailed for life by the court today are: the dead man's 36-year-old brother, Patrick Dooley, of Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Co Kerry; his brother-in-law, 43-year-old Thomas Dooley senior and his cousin, 21-year-old Thomas Dooley junior, both of Bay 10, Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork; and two other cousins, 29-year-old Michael Dooley of Bay 11, Halting Site, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, and 42-year-old Daniel Dooley, of An Carraigín, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry.
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Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said no explanation had ever been proffered and no explanation could excuse Thomas Dooley's death. She said the violence was totally unwarranted and unspeakable.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Siobhán Dooley's behalf, she recalled the day of her husband's murder.
"What happened in the graveyard that day will have a lasting impact on me," she said.
"The way he was murdered is a death nobody deserves, certainly not my Thomas," Mrs Dooley added.
The prosecution alleged Thomas Dooley's death was an honour killing to settle a score after the break-up of a relationship between one of his daughters and one of the convicted men.
Thomas Dooley died when he was attacked with bladed weapons as he and his wife, Siobhán, attended a funeral in Tralee on 5 October 2022, suffering what the prosecution described as savage injuries.
Siobhán Dooley was also injured, a deep wound she received later required 45 stitches and 30 surgical staples.
For the past seven weeks, five men and a teenager have been on trial charged with Thomas Dooley's murder.
All had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
''Thomas was the heart of the house' says widow
During the trial, Siobhán Dooley traced the start of the trouble to November 2019, when she said one of her daughters broke up with Thomas Dooley junior and refused to marry him.
Prosecuting senior counsel Dean Kelly said the motive was reasonably clear, honour had been offended and a score had to be settled.
Describing the events in the graveyard, Siobhán Dooley said Thomas Dooley senior had a weapon in each hand, one shiny and the other rusty. She said he jeered her husband and said "you're a big man now".
Siobhán Dooley identified Thomas Dooley junior as one of the attackers and said he had assaulted her too.
She said the teenager had an axe-like weapon over his head, like something you would see in an "Indian movie".
The case against the dead man's younger brother, Patrick Dooley, was that he inflicted injuries to Thomas Dooley's legs with a weapon. Siobhán Dooley said he was grinning.
All four were found guilty by unanimous verdict of the jury.
Last Tuesday, the jury found Michael Dooley guilty, also by unanimous verdict.
Siobhán Dooley had told the trial Michael Dooley had a weapon in his hand and had participated in the attack.
Finally, last Thursday afternoon, the jury returned with an 11 to one majority guilty verdict in relation to Daniel Dooley.
The trial had heard that Danny Dooley told his brother Michael to shove over to give him a go when they were attacking Thomas Dooley.
After the final verdict was delivered, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring thanked the ten men and two women of the jury for their service and excused them from jury duty for 15 years.
She also adjourned the sentencing of the teenager until next October.
Read more: Thomas Dooley murder - What led to stabbing in the cemetery
