Jury retires in patricide trial
The jury in the trial of a teenager accused of murdering his father has retired to consider its verdict at the Central Criminal Court.
Thomas Cunningham (aged 19) of Santa Maria Commons, Ballinlough, Roscommon, denies murdering 46-year-old Thomas Brendan Cunningham at their home on August 23, 2007.
Defence counsel, Brendan Grehan SC, earlier told the jury that the accused accepted that he was responsible for the unlawful killing of his father but was not a murderer.
The jury had heard that the accused lived with his father and grandparents and that his father was an alcoholic. The deceased had been drinking on the day leading up to his death and came home drunk.
The accused was annoyed with his father who had been sent out earlier to buy food. He grabbed his father and punched him outside the house. The deceased fell to the ground where the accused said he punched him twice more and kicked him.
The deceased was helped up but fell down again and was left in the garden overnight with a duvet and pillow. He was found dead the following morning.
