A jury at the Central Criminal Court has been told they should be satisfied the evidence shows that law professor Diarmuid Phelan is guilty of the murder of a trespasser on his farm.
Prosecution counsel Róisín Lacey said the evidence included that of four foreign nationals who witnessed the shooting of Keith Conlon while they were working on Mr Phelan’s farm in Tallaght, Dublin on February 22nd, 2022.
Mr Conlon, Kallum Coleman and Robin Duggan were using a dog to hunt down badgers and foxes while trespassing on the farm that day, the jury has been told.
Hannah Felgner (19), a student from Germany, had said her recollection was that Mr Conlon had his back to Mr Phelan when the accused shot him in the head, counsel said. She recalled the gunshot coming as a “complete surprise” because she perceived the situation immediately prior to that as a “verbal” conflict between Mr Phelan, Mr Conlon and Mr Coleman.
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Ms Felgner said both trespassers were upset and angry that Mr Phelan had shot Mr Coleman’s dog. She repeatedly said she did not believe the situation was going to turn into anything physical and her “clear and consistent” recollection was that both men had turned away when the fatal shot was fired, counsel said.
Ms Lacey urged the jury not to let “grotesque, graphic and in some cases, criminal” videos and photos taken from Mr Conlon’s phone concerning dog blooding and badger baiting inspire a “visceral” reaction in them.
“Keith Conlon is not on trial for the morality of bolting foxes or blooding dogs or badger baiting,” she said, adding that the jury might feel the same about “tweed-jacketed men and women” riding horses and chasing foxes.
She said the jury had heard evidence of many incidents on Mr Phelan’s farm including some involving trespass, criminal damage, arson, theft and people coming on to the lands to drink and take drugs. Counsel said she had no doubt Mr Phelan was “mithered” by that and who “would not have the greatest sympathy for him over that level of activity”.
However, she said neither Mr Conlon nor the other two trespassers were involved in any prosecutions or investigations regarding those incidents.
On the very morning of the fatal shooting, she said, two men were fixing the farm gate which had been criminally damaged. She asked if Mr Phelan had “simply had enough” by that afternoon and “reached the end of his tether”.
While not trying to minimise the “aggressive tone” of some language used by Mr Conlon towards Mr Phelan, Ms Lacey said it was clear based on the evidence that Mr Conlon had turned to go before the fatal shot was fired.
There was “nothing in the encounter” that could have led Mr Phelan to believe he was being presented with such a threat of force to justify producing a revolver from his pocket and repeatedly firing it, she said.
Ms Lacey has begun closing the case for the prosecution in the trial of Mr Phelan (56), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Conlon (36) at Hazlegrove farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, on February 24th, 2022. Mr Conlon, a father of four, was pronounced brain-dead at Tallaght hospital two days after he was shot.
The prosecution case is that, after Mr Phelan shot a lurcher dog belonging to Mr Coleman, there were heated exchanges with the trespassers and Mr Conlon and Mr Coleman followed him up a field. The prosecution case is two shots were fired into the air by Mr Phelan from his Smith & Wesson revolver and a third penetrated the body of Mr Conlon.
The prosecution case is, when the third shot was fired, the deceased was shot in the back of the head as he turned away and, in the circumstances, Mr Phelan had the requisite intent for murder.
Mr Phelan, the trial heard, told gardaí in interviews he believed, if he had not reacted immediately, “he would have got me” and said he was “terrified”, “stressed” and “scared shitless”.
The jury was told the defence case, as the prosecution understood it, was the discharge of the firearm was a legitimate act of self-defence not done with intent to penetrate the body of Mr Conlon. The prosecution’s closing address continues on Tuesday before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and the jury of nine men and three women.
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