A homeless, alcoholic drug addict has been jailed for life for murdering a pensioner with a fire extinguisher, leaving him with a fragmented skull and later trying to set him on fire.
Stephen Byrne (36) was found guilty of murdering William Traynor (69) in his home on St Francis Terrace, Bow Street on June 17th, 2007.
When fire-fighters were called to the house that evening, they found Mr Traynor unconscious. He died two days later in Beaumont Hospital.
Byrne told the court that he “lost it” after Mr Traynor “provoked” him by spraying fire extinguisher foam at him as he walked by his front door.
Byrne said he shoved him into the house, where he assaulted him with the fire extinguisher. He left an hour later and went out drinking, leaving his victim lying on the ground.
The day after the attack, Byrne told a security guard that he had tried to set his victim on fire.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Mr Traynor’s death was due to head injuries, mainly to the left of his head. She said a heavy blow or blows from a heavy object resulted in a fragmented skull and brain injury.
“The skull was broken up into small pieces,” she said. She explained that his face was swollen, both eyes were bruised and there had been haemorrhaging within them.
Many of Mr Traynor’s ribs were fractured and there was bruising to his lungs and kidneys. His shoulders, arms and legs were bruised, with the arm injuries likely to be defensive, Dr Cassidy said. There were circular marks on his back, which were unlikely to have been caused by the same object that inflicted the head injuries.
There was fire damage to his head, she said, with his hair, moustache and left eyebrow singed and burns on his face and neck.
After a trial lasting more than three weeks at the Central Criminal Court, the jury of seven women and five men took six hours and five minutes to reach a unanimous verdict of murder. They had been given the opportunity of finding Byrne guilty of manslaughter.
He received the mandatory life sentence.
The trial heared Mr Traynor died in poverty in the house in which he was raised. Although he owned his own home, at the time of his death it was unfurnished, plaster had been removed from inside walls, the floor had been dug up in places and the toilet was outside.
Both murderer and victim knew each other from using the Capuchin Day Centre on Bow Street, where they received free meals up to twice a day from the religious order.