{"id":481673,"date":"2026-06-03T22:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481673\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:58:08","slug":"man-convicted-in-thomas-tom-dooley-murder-trial-loses-appeal-bid-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481673\/","title":{"rendered":"Man convicted in Thomas \u2018Tom\u2019 Dooley murder trial loses appeal bid \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of six family members jailed for the murder of Thomas \u201cTom\u201d Dooley<\/a> in an \u201chonour killing\u201d during a funeral in Co Kerry<\/a> has failed to convince the Court of Appeal<\/a> that his identification by the victim\u2019s widow was unfair and should have resulted in the case being withdrawn from the jury.<\/p>\n

Judge Nuala Butler said while the evidence, excluding the widow\u2019s identification, against Daniel Dooley (45) was circumstantial, it did not necessarily follow that the evidence was tenuous, weak, vague or inconsistent.<\/p>\n

She noted that the victim\u2019s widow and other witnesses were cross-examined very thoroughly and effectively on the appellant\u2019s behalf during the trial.<\/p>\n

Dooley, of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Co Kerry, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery, Rathass, Tralee, Co Kerry, on October 5th, 2022 but was convicted by a majority jury verdict in July 2024.<\/p>\n

He was one of six defendants \u2013 including a teenage boy \u2013 found guilty of murder by a jury who deliberated for nearly 21 hours over five days at the Central Criminal Court in Cork.<\/p>\n

Tom Dooley died after he was violently attacked by six men as he attended a funeral at Rath Cemetery, where he suffered \u201csavage\u201d injuries inflicted by a group armed with bladed weapons and acting with \u201cfocused and murderous ferocity\u201d in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

In his closing speech, prosecuting barrister Dean Kelly submitted to the jury that the six men had used \u201cmedieval violence\u201d to \u201cbutcher\u201d the father-of-seven in \u201can honour killing\u201d. <\/p>\n

Launching an appeal against Daniel Dooley\u2019s conviction last July, barrister Dominic McGinn said the case should have been withdrawn from the jury at the close of the prosecution case as a result of unfairness.<\/p>\n

McGinn said the evidence against Daniel Dooley was \u201csignificantly different\u201d to the evidence against the other accused. He said the appellant came to be charged \u201clate in the day\u201d and there was very limited time between him being charged and the trial itself.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Man wanted in connection with Qayyum Balogun stabbing believed to have fled countryOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said the only evidence against Daniel Dooley was a segment of CCTV that showed him leaving his house and entering a van carrying an implement which was \u201clong and stick-like\u201d. He said there was no evidence any such implement was used on the deceased.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the incident, he left the scene with a number of others who were accused of violence, so it really was his association,\u201d said counsel.<\/p>\n

McGinn said that changed when the deceased\u2019s wife, Siobh\u00e1n Dooley, had named Daniel Dooley during the course of her evidence to the trial.<\/p>\n

She had initially identified a different person, he said, but during the course of the investigation it was established that this man was in a different location at the time and could not have been at the graveyard.<\/p>\n

Counsel said that in her direct evidence, Siobh\u00e1n Dooley said she had been confused by the faces because the two men were \u201can awful lot alike\u201d. <\/p>\n

In delivering the Court of Appeal\u2019s judgment on Wednesday, the judge said this was manifestly not a case where there was no evidence that the alleged crime was committed by the appellant. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jonathan Gill challenges extradition to Northern Ireland to face Robbie Lawlor murder chargeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She said the evidence consistently showed him to have been in the company of a co-accused, while CCTV evidence showed the appellant placing an item, which could have been used as a weapon, in the rear of the co-accused\u2019s van. <\/p>\n

She said the court was satisfied that the evidence against the appellant was more than sufficient for it to be properly open to the jury to draw inferences that he was part of a joint enterprise of \u201ca pre-planned violent attack\u201d on the deceased.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe credibility of the widow\u2019s identification evidence was ultimately a matter for the jury,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of six family members jailed for the murder of Thomas \u201cTom\u201d Dooley in an \u201chonour killing\u201d during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10202,61,60,7727,43],"class_list":["post-481673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-court-of-appeal","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kerry","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}