This article is from page 10 of the 2007-05-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE killing of Liam Moloney was “meticulously planned and_ ruth- lessly executed and was followed by a cover-up”.
That was according to the Prosecu- tion Counsel Tom O’Connell, SC, in his closing speech to the jury on Friday.
He said he was “inviting” the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty of mur- der.
“The Prosecution has established beyond all reasonable doubt that An-
thony Kelly killed Liam Moloney, with the intention of killing him.
‘He lured him to his place of death by telling him a lie, that Liam Molo- ney would be introduced to the fic- tional Swedish woman, Anna Fred- erickson,” said Mr O’Connell.
He said the accused believed that Mr Moloney kept money in his flat. After he had killed him, he went straight to the flat and took around €600, before returning to his Kerry home.
“The motive, beyond any doubt, was to enrich himself, by stealing
Mr Moloney’s money after he had killed him,” he said.
He said that the accused later “‘dis- posed of every single item that might connect him with the killing’. These included Mr Moloney’s mobile phone and keys, Mr Kelly’s own clothing, along with an axe head, padlock and meat cleaver.
He said that the burglary was “cen- tral to the case”. He told the jury it was demonstrated during the trial that the accused was “unreliable” and had a history of lying but that he did not have a history of mental
illness.
Defence Counsel Brendan Grehan, SC, in his closing speech, said “there is no other issue in this, other than the issue of diminished responsibil- Aa
He said that if the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act — introduced for the first time last year — had not been in place, his client “would have no op- tion but to plead guilty to murder”.
He said in reality the killing was “brutal” and “a frenzied attack” which were the actions of “some- body out of control”.
He said the jury could conclude that the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing and that substantially im- paired his judgement.
“The appropriate verdict is man- slaughter. I invite you to return a ver- dict of manslaughter,” he said.
Mr Justice Paul Carney told the jury that the defendant does not chal- lenge he did what is alleged.
However, he said the question, was he suffering from a mental disorder at the time, is “where the battle- ground is”.