Brothers get 9½ years for ‘degrading’ attack on uncle

Two brothers have been sentenced to 9½ years, with four suspended, for “a brutal, vicious and degrading ” attack on their uncle which left him “at death’s door” but which had no apparent motive.

The victim, Gerald Fitzgerald of Mitchels Road, Tralee, was found with his jeans pulled down and blood spurting from his head. A tennis racket had been forced into his rectum, it later emerged, and there had been damage to his liver and bladder.

Robert Kelly (32), of Ogham Rian Estate, Tralee, and Tommy Kelly (34), of Marian Park, Tralee, had both denied recklessly or intentionally causing serious harm to Mr Fitzgerald (50) at Mitchels Road on November 8th, 2011, some time between 6.45pm and 7.45pm.

A jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee on May 22nd, after a 17-day trial.

“There was no obvious motive,” Tom Rice, prosecuting, said. “The reason for the violence could not be explained.”

Mr Fitzgerald had declined to give a victim-impact statement and was not in court for the sentencing.He was recovering but had ongoing bowel difficulties. He had no recollection of the assault.

Philomena Fitzgerald, the mother of the victim and grandmother of Tommy and Robert Kelly, in a plea for leniency said she had aged 20 years since the attack.