Jury out in dismemberment case
A CENTRAL Criminal Court jury will resume deliberations this morning in the trial of a murder accused who ‘chopped’ his friend up with a chainsaw after shooting him in the defendant’s back yard.
Paul Wells Snr, 50, of Barnamore Park, Finglas, has admitted shooting dead fellow Dubliner Kenneth O’Brien and dismembering his body.
However, he denies murdering the 33-year-old at his home in Barnamore Park on January 15 or 16, 2016.
The father of five claims that the deceased had wanted him to murder Mr O’Brien’s partner, so that he could take their child back to Australia, where he had previously lived.
He told gardai that Mr O’Brien had brought a gun to his house for this purpose on the evening of January 15 but that he didn’t want to do it.
He said this resulted in a scuffle, that the gun fell, they both tried to get it, but he got to it first and shot his friend in the back of the head.
He said he then panicked, ‘chopped him into pieces’ with a chainsaw Mr O’Brien had lent him, put his torso into Mr O’Brien’s suitcase and dumped it in the Grand Canal.
The 11 jury members were given three possible verdicts – guilty, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or acquittal – and told to reach a unanimous decision.