A 41-year-old security worker has been jailed for life for the murder of a homeless man whom he beat to death on a building site in 2001.
After three hours of deliberations at the Central Criminal Court last night, a jury of six men and six women unanimously found Mr Joseph McWeeney, of Benburb Street, Dublin, guilty of the murder of Mr Joseph Fitzgerald (52), at the basement of Collins Square apartments, Benburb Street, Dublin, on or about April 6th, 2001.
Mr Justice O'Higgins imposed the mandatory life sentence on the separated father of one, who sat passively in court during the four-day trial. Mr Fitzgerald's sisters and brothers hugged each other and cried openly following the verdict. His twin sister, Phyllis, and younger sister, Anne, said that while they were pleased justice had been done, they wanted to share their condolences with McWeeney's mother and father.
Mr Fitzgerald died from severe head injuries as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. The postmortem evidence showed that he was struck at least five times with a heavy instrument. Forensic evidence found the victim's DNA matched blood found on the jacket and shoes of McWeeney when he was arrested by gardaí.
During the trial, the court heard that McWeeney told gardaí he "felt sorry" for Mr Fitzgerald when he was evicted from his hostel across the road from the building site where he worked.
He said he had "good intentions" when he brought him down to the basement of the site so he could have shelter for the rain for the night.
Mr McWeeney lived adjacent to the site with his father, who employed the security workers for the building site.
While in custody McWeeney admitted the attack, but claimed Mr Fitzgerald provoked him by making sexual remarks and advances towards him "out of the blue".