Two men found guilty of beating man (64) to death

TWO men have been found guilty of murdering father-of-three Thomas ‘Toddy’ Dooley in his home by unanimous jury verdicts.

Mr Dooley (64) was found slumped in an arm chair at St Senan Court in Edenderry on February 16, 2014 – four days after his death.

A post mortem revealed he had suffered injuries to his upper body and head. It was alleged that Mr Dooley was beaten to death with a baseball bat.

Sean Davy (21), of Clonmullen Drive, Edenderry, Co Offaly and James Davy (25), of Thornhill Meadows, Celbridge, Co Kildare had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Dooley.

A third man, Matthew Cummins (22), of Churchview Heights, Edenderry has pleaded not guilty and the jury will consider its verdict in relation to him today.

At 4.33pm yesterday the eight men and four women returned after just over eight hours of deliberations.

The foreman confirmed that they had reached a verdict against two of the accused, which the registrar read out as “guilty”.

Justice Margaret Heneghan asked the jury not to speak to anyone else about the case and to return the following morning to further consider a verdict in relation to Mr Cummins.

Justice Heneghan has previously told the jury that there are four verdicts open to them.

They could find Mr Cummins guilty of murder, or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty of murder but guilty of impeding the apprehension of an offender, or not guilty.

She told them that the verdict of not guilty was “theoretical” and would not be logical given the evidence heard during the three-week trial.

Alive

Mr Dooley was last seen “alive and well” on February 11, 2014, when he received a “meals on wheels” delivery.

The trial has heard that the three men got into Mr Dooley’s home through a window at about 5.30am on a cold February morning.

The jury previously heard there had been an attempt to set the armchair that Mr Dooley was sitting in on fire.

However, this proved unsuccessful.

Locals from Edenderry described Mr Dooley at his funeral in 2014 as a “quiet and inoffensive man” and a “good neighbour”.