Murder accused suffered 'horrific assault'
A man who confessed to cutting the throat of an older man in Inchicore four years ago was subjected to a horrific sexual assault in a field in Dublin as a teenager, a murder trial jury has heard.
The jury must decide if John Cleary is guilty of murder or of manslaughter.
Cleary (aged 24), of St Mark's Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin has admitted beating and then fatally stabbing Kenneth Foley (aged 45), at Jamestown Court in Inchicore. But he denies a charge of murder at the Central Criminal Court trial.
Mr Foley, a single man with an address at Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, was found with his throat cut on the steps of the 'old folks complex' at Jamestown Court in the early hours of January 15, 1999.
Yesterday, the accused man's father Mr Aidan Cleary told the court that when his son was 14, he was attacked by three men in a field in Clondalkin where he had been watching a Baldonnel airshow.
Mr Cleary said that he was told that the three men got his son on the ground and forced a mineral bottle onto his penis. His son said nothing about the incident for a few days, and when he told his parents, he had to be hospitalised for a week and had a surgical procedure to remove the top of the bottle. He was seen by a psychiatrist before he left hospital.
Mr Cleary told counsel that his son's behaviour did not change after the incident. But under further cross-examination from Mr David Goldberg SC, defending, he said that after the incident, his son would go into a rage if anyone touched him. He agreed that that was a marked change of behaviour.
The accused's sister Ms Pauline Cleary said that before the incident, her brother was "very happy-go-lucky and jokey". After it, he "just went into himself" and became very quiet. He also "would argue with you" and did not like being slagged.
"If people started giving him abuse, he'd just lose the head," she said.
"Normally, he'd just walk away, like, when he was younger, before the incident, but then he'd just lash out," she told Mr Goldberg SC. "Especially if he had a lot of beers on him, he'd a tendency to be a bit more violent."
The trial has heard that Cleary admitted to gardai that he waited outside a flat in Jamestown Court where he had been drinking with three other men, including Kenneth Foley. Mr Foley had called him "a scumbag" and "a robber" and Cleary said he was upset by this because he was "only trying to be friendly" in offering to walk him home. When Mr Foley emerged from the flat, Cleary began beating and kicking him.
Another man, Don Knowles - who is wanted by gardai for serious assault in connection with the incident - joined in the kicking, and Cleary began swinging at Ken Foley with a small kitchen knife. When Mr Foley fell to the ground, Cleary cut his throat.
Gardai arrested him at his sister's house in Clondalkin the day after Mr Foley's body was found.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins.
