A date has been set for a number of people to go on trial for the murder of Killarney man Thomas Dooley.
The father of seven died after he was attacked by a group of men while attending a funeral at Rath cemetery in Tralee.
Three family members and a teenager will go on trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin in May next year, with two months set aside for the trial.
This case came before the Central Criminal Court today, where a solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said there may be other accused in the case but this would be resolved shortly.
So far, there have been nine arrests in relation to the killing of 43-year-old Thomas Dooley, who was from Hazelwood Drive in Killarney, but died in Rath Cemetery, Tralee on October 5th, 2022.
He had been attending the funeral of a family friend, along with his wife and four of his seven children when he was attacked.
The late Thomas Dooley’s brother, 35-year-old Patrick Dooley of Arbutus Grove, Killarney; the dead man’s cousin Thomas Dooley Senior, aged 41, and that man’s son, Thomas Dooley Junior, aged 20, both of a halting site at Carrigrohane Road, Cork, as well as a 17-year-old boy, are all charged with murdering Thomas Dooley at Rath Cemetery.
Thomas Dooley Junior is also charged with assault causing serious harm to the late Mr Dooley’s wife, Siobhán, at the same time and place.
The fourth defendant, who can’t be named as he’s a juvenile but is due to turn 18 later this year, is further charged with the production of an article likely to intimidate or capable of causing serious injury, while committing or appearing to commit serious harm to Mrs Dooley on the same date.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott set May 29th, 2024 as the date for the four defendants' trial before a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
The judge said he would give the whole term until July 31st to complete the trial.
He said there’s an extensive number of accused in the case, who all have family members, and noted there was a clear interest in the dead man’s family attending, so this was being kept in mind in terms of venue.
Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC, defending Patrick Dooley, said he was unhappy about the disclosure in relation to several juvenile witnesses in the case, and was looking for the taped interviews with these witnesses.
The case was listed for mention on July 10th in the expectation that tapes and transcripts are provided to the defence by that date.
