Jury rejects Dublin man's claim that stabbing was done in self defence
Eoin Reynolds
A murder accused, who claimed it was "100 per cent coincidental" that he fatally stabbed his friend in the neck just hours after threatening to do so, has seen his claim that he was acting in defence of himself and his property rejected by the unanimous verdict of a Central Criminal Court jury.
The jury found 39-year-old Joseph Lawlor guilty this afternoon of the murder of 51-year-old Michael Ryan in a car park at the back of the defendant's home at Hampton Wood Road, Finglas, Dublin 11, on June 20, 2024. They had spent eight hours and 57 minutes deliberating before returning their decision.
Mr Justice Patrick McGrath thanked the jury and exempted them from further service for 10 years.
He will sentence Lawlor to the mandatory term of life imprisonment next Friday, February 27th, when members of the deceased's family will be invited to make a statement to the court.
The jury heard that Lawlor and Mr Ryan were drinking together in the accused's home throughout the day and had their first of three physical altercations at 8.30pm.
The fights were recorded by CCTV and by neighbours using their mobile phones. In his evidence before the jury, Lawlor accepted that he was bigger than Mr Ryan and got the better of him in the first two fights. He further accepted that he was strangling Mr Ryan on the ground during one of the fights, causing his face to turn purple.
Following the second fight, Mr Ryan drove away in his car but was arrested almost immediately for drunk driving.
Having been processed and released from custody, Mr Ryan returned to Lawlor's home shortly after midnight and accused him of having called gardaí to have him arrested.
He also demanded that Lawlor return an expensive watch that he had left behind earlier. Lawlor invited Mr Ryan for a fight "down the back" and refused to return the watch. Mr Ryan threatened to get some "lads" to come and throw "pineapples", slang for grenades, through Lawlor's windows.
Some minutes later, Mr Ryan entered Lawlor's home through the back door and left carrying a bag with almost €4,000 inside. Lawlor claimed the money was the proceeds from the sale of 17,000 Zopiclone sleeping tablets, whereas Mr Ryan's partner, Natanya Cumerford, said the money was part of a loan she had secured for home improvements. Lawlor pursued Mr Ryan to a carpark at the rear of his home and stabbed Mr Ryan once in the neck, severing a branch of the carotid artery and causing his death.
Mr Ryan fell to the ground and called Lawlor a 'dirtbird' before shouting: "You stabbed me in the artery, you f**cking eejit."
Lawlor later claimed that he had not intended to harm Mr Ryan but just wanted him to go away and not come back and throw grenades in his windows. He claimed that he was acting in defence of himself and his home.
Mr Justice McGrath told the jury that to find Lawlor guilty of murder, they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that when he stabbed Mr Ryan, he intended to kill or to cause serious injury. They were also required to consider whether Lawlor had an honest belief that he needed to protect himself or his property and whether he used reasonable force to do so.
