Man guilty of killing a taxi driver in ‘row over dumping’

A MAN who stabbed a taxi driver to death following an alleged row over illegal dumping has been cleared of murder.

But Joseph Hillen, aged 24, was convicted by a jury of the manslaughter of 53-year-old Martin Mulligan. He denied murder.

From the outset of his trial, Hillen had admitted to stabbing Mr Mulligan in September 2015 but said the taximan had pulled the knife on him.

The Central Criminal Court had heard how Mr Mulligan’s body was found outside Dundalk, Co. Louth, by three women near his taxi after his last drop-off of the night.

Hillen came under suspicion by gardaí as he had been pursued by officers hours before Mr Mulligan’s death. Hillen, from Forkhill, Co. Armagh, evaded the patrol car by speeding towards the border.

The court heard how Hillen told gardaí he was driving near land belonging to his friend Dermot McGeough in the early hours when he saw Mr Mulligan and believed he was illegally dumping rubbish.

Mr McGeough told the trial Hillen would often drive by the site and let him know if he saw any rubbish dumped there and said Hillen often helped him to clear the site.

Hillen told gardaí he confronted Mr Mulligan and a fight broke out.

He said the taxi driver pulled a long stainless-steel kitchen knife on him but Hillen ‘flipped the knife’ before Mr Mulligan started to punch him repeatedly on the back of the head, pushing him down to his knees.

From this position he said he ‘jabbed out’ twice with the knife, inflicting the fatal wounds.

Acting State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told the trial this description would explain the ‘unusual’ position of the wounds in the lower abdomen and thigh.

Judge Eileen Creedon set a date of December 3 for sentence.

Patrick Treacy SC, for the prosecution, said the victim’s family will make a statement then.