A LIMERICK dad-of-four beat a man to death with four blows of a shovel and told gardai who arrived at the scene: “I hit him with a shovel and I hope the c*** is dead,” the Central Criminal Court heard this Thursday.

A sentencing hearing for Joseph Cahill, aged 46, who pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of 43-year-old Gerard ‘Ger’ Curtin, heard that Cahill had previously threatened to kill the deceased after Mr Curtin came to his house, threw stones at his windows, threatened to burn the house down and demanded money.

Mr Curtin (pictured below) left after Cahill’s partner gave him €300.

Inspector James Ruddle, of Roxboro Road Garda Station, told the court that Mr Curtin returned to Cahill’s house in the early hours about two weeks later, again demanding money. CCTV footage showed the deceased smashing a window of the Cahill home with a rock. The lock on Cahill’s front door was broken so he had propped a shovel against it to keep out intruders.

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Cahill took the shovel, opened the door and struck the victim on the head, causing him to immediately fall to the ground, the inspector said. Cahill then struck Mr Curtin three more times as he lay “defenceless and immobile” on the ground. 

Before delivering the blows, Cahill called emergency services and asked for the police. After delivering the fatal blows, with Mr Curtin lying motionless on the ground, Cahill told the call-taker that a man was trying to get into his house.

He waited a further eight minutes and 30 seconds before telling the call taker to send an ambulance. When asked why he needed an ambulance, Cahill said: “I think he’s dead… I had to protect my kids. I don’t give a f*** about going to jail. I beat a shovel off his head and I kept beating, to tell you the truth.”

The first garda at the scene made a note of Cahill saying: “I hit him with a shovel, I hope the c*** is dead.”

Garret Baker SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Ms Justice Eileen Creedon that Cahill was originally charged with murder. He said the DPP accepted the manslaughter plea on the basis that Cahill honestly believed that he was protecting himself, his property and his children but that the force he used in striking Mr Curtin four times with the shovel was excessive.

On May 30 this year, Cahill, of Sarsfield Avenue, Garryowen, Limerick pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Mr Curtin on November 4, 2023 outside his home.

Mr Baker said the offence warrants a headline sentence of ten to 15 years.

In an impact statement, Bianca Hickey told the court that the deceased was a brother, father, partner and friend. She said the family has always been “close-knit” but the killing tore them apart.

She said they have watched their parents become “completely different people”. Their mother “traded nights at bingo for sleepless nights and endless nightmares” while their father lost interest in his hobbies and no longer loves chatting and laughing with his family.

They never got to say goodbye or kiss him one last time because his injuries were so catastrophic that his coffin had to be closed.

Insp Ruddle agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, for Cahill, that gardai were aware of allegations over many years that Mr Curtin had smashed windows of houses and threatened the occupants.

The court heard that eight days after the killing, Cahill’s home was petrol bombed and the family was forced to move out of the area. Cahill’s sister’s home was also petrol bombed at 5am while all people living there were in bed, the court was told.

When Mr O’Higgins began to read a letter of apology from his client, the deceased’s family stood up and walked out of court. 

In the letter, Cahill said he wanted to “express how deeply sorry I am” to the victim’s partner and children. He said he carries the “massive burden” of what he did every day and has turned the lives of his own family upside down.

“I never set out or imagined that night going to bed that anything like this would happen,” he said.

Mr O’Higgins said his client has a long history of mental illness, polysubstance abuse and a gambling addiction. He pointed to a psychiatric report which states that due to childhood trauma, Cahill is predisposed to act irrationally and to overreact to threats against himself and his family.

He has no relevant previous convictions and, Mr O’Higgins said, is not likely to come before the courts again.

Counsel asked the court to take into account that Cahill was woken on the night by a volatile man smashing his windows and trying to cross the threshold into his home.

The four blows took just four seconds, he said, and although the force used was excessive, counsel asked the court to consider how quickly his brain could process what was happening.

While Mr O’Higgins said the court would have to impose a custodial sentence, he asked Ms Justice Creedon to offer the “maximum leniency” possible.

Ms Justice Creedon adjourned sentencing to November 24.