This article is from page 16 of the 2007-05-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
, by Martin Luther Stites He pleaded “not guilty” at the out- set, after the charge of murder was put to him and also indicated his guilty plea to six other charges. Each day, as he was led in to the courtroom, the book protruded from his pocket. That book remained on the bench in front of him during the were During the majority of the evidence in the case, Kelly looked straight ahead. On the third day of the trial, he turned to the left and gave his full attention as videotapes showing his
interviews by gardai were played to elem LUD MYA
As his barrister Brendan Grehan asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty of manslaughter and not mur- der, he looked straight ahead at him.
He also gazed at the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, as he presented the charge to the jury and recapped the evidence, occasionally rubbing his face with his hand.
He listened intently throughout the trial and did not show any facial expressions as prosecuting counsel Tom O’Connell described the killing as “meticulously planned, ruthlessly executed and followed by a cover- eee Kelly also showed no major ex- pression of emotion as conflicting evidence of his mental state were presented to the jury. The prosecu-
tion argued that he was not suffering from a mental disorder when he mur- dered his victim, while the defence argued he was and that this dimin- ished his responsibility.
Kelly’s lack of visible emotion throughout the trial continued as the verdict was read out.
As Kelly murdered his victim, his dress sense resembled that of a young man, notably the presence of a baseball cap. One witness who saw him standing near Liam Moloney’s taxi immediately prior to the killing told gardai she believed he was in his BOs
His demeanour during the trial, dressed in a suit, shirt and tie, were more akin to a man in his 50s.
In the body of the courtroom, the family of Liam Moloney sat togeth- er.
Liam’s brothers Fintan and Derry, three of his sons — David, Peter and Shane — and his former wife Eileen listened to the horrific details of how he met his death. Each family mem- ber attended part of the trial, while Fintan, who delivered a harrowing victim impact statement at the end of the trial, did not miss a minute of the evidence.
Fintan and Derry sat behind the media and could have been mistaken for journalists, such was their regular note-taking throughout the trial.
Each morning, the Moloney fam- ily converged outside Courtroom Number One in the Round Hall of the Four Courts. They supported each other, in contrast to the accused who cut a sad, lonely figure, with no family support in evidence.