Man convicted of murder after jury rejects claim he wanted to ‘scare’ rather than kill his neighbor – The Irish Times

A man has been convicted of murder after his claim that he intended to ‘scare’ rather than kill a fellow resident of a Dublin hostel when he burst into his room wearing a balaclava and armed with a knife was rejected by a jury .

The Central Criminal Court heard that in response to the attack on Jamie Kavanagh (24) on April 19, 2023, Robert Murphy (42) told gardaí that “I attacked him with his own weapons”. Murphy pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to Kavanagh’s manslaughter, but was convicted by a jury after almost five hours of deliberation.

The jury was told that Mr Kavanagh lived in accommodation on Harrington Street, run by the charity Crosscare, and that Murphy lived next door. Prosecutor Paul Greene said many people living in the property were “on the margins”.

Mr Greene said gardaí arrived at the hostel at around 4.40am after the alarm went off and Murphy was still there. He was seen leaving with a dog and an Under Armor bag and gardaí followed him down Harrington Street before stopping him.

Murphy had officers look inside the bag and they found two large knives, part of a pair of garden shears, a balaclava, some bloodstained clothing and a cell phone. They also found another bag of clothes on nearby Synge Lane. Mr Kavanagh was assisted by emergency services at the hostel but died at 5.26am.

Det Garda Eve Rochfort told Mr Greene that Murphy had told her he had “done that”.

“I actually went for his neck, I wanted to get his neck. I’m tired of his stuff.”

State pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis carried out the post-mortem on Mr Kavanagh and found seven sharps injuries: four stab wounds and three incisions. Dr. Collis said he died as a result of a 5-inch wound to his left flank.

Garda Matthew O’Connor told Mr Greene he was on duty at 5.10am when Murphy was brought in as a prisoner. He said he heard Murphy tell the station jailer, “I wanted to kill him stone dead.” He deserved to die and someone had to do something.”

According to the prosecutor, what Murphy said amounted to an admission of responsibility for the unlawful killing in circumstances where he intended to cause death or serious injury.

In his closing address to the jury, defense attorney Brendan Grehan SC said Murphy entered Kavanagh’s room, wearing a balaclava and armed with a butter knife, to ‘scare’ him but not to kill him.

He said Murphy would have armed himself with more than a butter knife as the defendant believed Kavanagh had knives and half a pair of garden shears in his room if he had intended to kill him.

Murphy told gardaí that the small knife he brought with him broke the room and he grabbed another knife when Mr Kavanagh “came at him”. Counsel said this small knife could not have caused the fatal blow delivered by one of Mr Kavanagh’s longer black knives. He said the prosecution had failed to prove that Murphy did not act in what he said was self-defense.

After the jury of seven men and five women returned their verdict, Judge Melanie Greally remanded Murphy in custody and adjourned the case until December 16 for victim impact statements and sentencing.