Manslaughter trial hears man died after suffering blunt trauma to head

A manslaughter trial has heard that the deceased died due to a large blood clot in his skull cavity after he suffered blunt trauma to the back of his head.

Jonathan Dargan, of Belfry Manor, Citywest, Dublin has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawfully killing Patrick Mullally (56) within Dublin city on March 6th, 2016.

He also pleaded not guilty to charges of assault causing harm to Lauren Mullally and assault causing harm to Shane Cunningham on Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6, on March 5th, 2016.

In her opening to the jury on Tuesday, Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, said an altercation occurred on Harold’s Cross Road on March 5th, 2016 and Mr Mullally passed away the following day.

Professor Marie Cassidy told Ms Murphy she carried out a postmortem on Mr Mullally on March 7th, 2016. She found his jaw was in three pieces and he had a fractured cheekbone.

She said all facial fractures could have been caused by a single strike and added a blow of such magnitude to cause that many injuries would have been sufficient to propel the victim to the ground.

Professor Cassidy said other injuries on the man’s back and buttocks were consistent with a fall to the ground. She said she found a large blood clot inside the skull cavity which would have raised pressure on the brain.

Professor Cassidy concluded Mr Mullally died due to a subdural haemorrhage and brain trauma due to a blunt trauma to his head.

She agreed with Vincent Heneghan SC, defending, it was possible a right hand strike to the face could have caused all the facial fractures, but also agreed the fractures alone would not have caused such a rapid death.

Professor Cassidy agreed the major injury causing death was the one to the back of Mr Mullally’s head, which caused the bleeding inside his skull and this injury was consistent with his head hitting the ground.

She agreed the level of alcohol in Mr Mullally’s blood would have meant he would have been showing “signs of intoxication”.

Professor Cassidy agreed “if someone is ill-prepared or otherwise unsteady on their feet, such a blow could easily knock them to the ground”.

The trial continues before Judge Pauline Codd and a jury of five women and seven men.

Earlier, witness Shaun O’Donoghue said he he saw a man “throw fairly powerful punches” at an older man while shouting “bang, bang”.

He later saw the older man, whom he believes to be the deceased, Patrick Mullally, lying on the ground with his head in his friend’s lap.

“He was dipping in and out of consciousness. There was blood coming from his mouth and I could see blood on his friend’s lap so he was obviously bleeding from the back of the head,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

Mr O’Donoghue told Ms Murphy he was cycling home from work on Harold’s Cross Road at 3.30am when he saw a man and a woman. The man had the woman pinned up against a gate, he said. He said it was just below Peggy Kelly’s Pub, close to the entrance of apartment buildings.

“He was shouting at her to pick something up. I stopped my bike and said something like, ‘What are you at?’”

“He told me to mind my own business and threatened me that if I didn’t go away he would stamp my head off the ground,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

He cycled on and met with a group of people outside Peggy Kelly’s pub, told them what was happening and they walked down to the man and woman. He said it was then that he saw the man throw punches at the older man.

He agreed with Vincent Heneghan SC, defending, that the woman he said was being pinned against the gate never asked for his help.

“No, I never spoke to the girl,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

“But your interpretation was that she was in trouble,” counsel asked. “Yes,” the witness replied.

“What if you were wrong? Did you get the wrong end of the stick?” Mr Heneghan asked. “I don’t believe so,” Mr O’Donoghue replied.

Counsel suggested to Mr O’Donoghue there was not as many punches as he said there were.

“They were fairly fast punches. That was my guesstimate at the time,” the witness replied.

Mr Heneghan played CCTV footage of the night for the witness and got him to identify himself on his bike.

He suggested that cars which could be seen on the footage were in between his line of vision and what was going on down the road.

“It was hard for you to see exactly what was going on,” counsel suggested. The witness agreed it was dark and he was some distance anyway.