THE JURY in a murder trial at the Crown Court in Derry was told yesterday that a father of four died from a ruptured heart after he was kicked and stamped on hours after he had attended a wedding reception.
Three members of the same family, James and Brenda Meehan, and Ms Meehan’s son Seán Devenney (21), from Dundrean Park, Derry, all deny murdering James McFadden (42) outside his Moyola Drive home in Derry’s Shantallow Estate on May 5th, 2007.
Opening the case for the prosecution, John Orr QC said during the wedding reception Mr Devenney had insulted the victim’s 16-year-old daughter and had later apologised to her.
However, the incident caused friction, following which the McFadden family returned home on a bus and the Meehan family went home in a taxi.
On the taxi journey home, the driver, John Coyle, heard Ms Meehan say “in a loud and clear voice” that she was “going to Shantallow to wreck it”. He later heard her say “no one talks down to my son”.
The barrister said that after they returned home, the co-defendants changed into casual clothing and then drove to a layby close to Mr McFadden’s home where they waited for the bus from the hotel to arrive. Mr Orr said that when questioned about where they had gone after they had returned home, the defendants said they had driven to a shop to get cigarettes. “If you came home from a wedding at 2am and you were gasping for a cigarette, would you think about changing your clothes?” he asked the jurors.
The prosecutor said the defendants were seen by several eye witnesses getting out of their Nissan car and approaching the McFadden family as they got off the bus. “They told their solicitors they wanted to see the McFadden family to make peace. The earlier incident happened at a hotel in Donegal but they were there to pour oil on troubled waters,” he said.
Mr Orr said all three defendants went towards Mr McFadden and eye witnesses would say the victim was then attacked, beaten to the ground and kicked.
After the attack the three defendants drove home but they were followed by a motorist who noted their car registration and address. The trial continues.