Father and three sons go on trial for Dublin murder

A father and his three sons have denied murdering a man after he fired a shotgun at their west Dublin home in the early hours of the morning.

Opening the trial, Paul Murray SC for the prosecution said the dead man was subjected to a savage and brutal attack.

Paul Bradley (54) and his sons Jason (20) Dean (24) and Ryan (18), of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, have all pleaded not guilty to the murder of Neil Reilly (36) at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin on January 18th, 2017.

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Ryan Bradley (18). Photograph: Collins Courts.

Mr Murray said it is usually wrong to speak ill of the dead but in this case it is unavoidable, as the jury will hear evidence that Mr Reilly fired a shotgun at the Bradley home at about 4am on the morning he died.

He said the jury would hear evidence that the four accused men, who were in the house at the time, gave chase following the shooting.

They followed Mr Reilly in a SUV driven by Paul Bradley with Jason as a passenger, and a BMW driven by Dean with Ryan as passenger.

Gardaí had been alerted to the shooting and called to the Bradley home where some time later the SUV returned, followed by a black BMW, but, Mr Murray said, not the same BMW that left the house earlier.

The prosecution case is that following the shooting Mr Reilly drove away in a van and later got into a Mazda driven by another man. He was pursued by the Bradleys to Esker Glebe in Lucan where the Mazda crashed and came to a halt facing the wrong way in the road.

Mr Reilly’s companion got away, but the deceased did not.

“He was subjected to a savage, brutal and ferocious attack,” Mr Murray said, before being left for dead. He was taken to hospital but died within a couple of hours.

A pathologist’s report showed that Mr Reilly suffered seven blows with a “chopping-type implement” - two to the head and five to the body. He also had severe crush injuries to his pelvis consistent with having been run over.

Counsel explained to the jury that the prosecution states that each of the accused were “willing, knowing participants” in a joint enterprise or common design to murder the deceased.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey told the jury they will decide the trial on what they hear in court and warned them not to carry out research on the internet.

The six men and six women will return to the Central Criminal Court on Thursday when the prosecution will begin calling witnesses.