One of two brothers on trial for murder was aggressive and said "I'm gonna f**kin kill ya" when he walked out in front of a 55-year-old man's car at a pedestrian crossing, the deceased's partner has told the Central Criminal Court.
In her opening address to the jury on Monday, Ms Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, said there was "bad blood" between Ian Connaghan and the deceased Michael Mulvey. Ms Rowland said that Ian Connaghan attacked Mr Mulvey near 'The Halfway House Pub' and left him on the ground after they had a confrontation on the Navan Road in west Dublin. The deceased, she said, was subsequently given "a severe beating" at a roundabout by Ian and his older brother Daniel Connaghan who had arrived in his car.
The prosecution barrister told the trial that Mr Mulvey's partner awoke to find her 55-year-old partner had passed away in bed beside her two weeks after he suffered the "severe beating" at the hands of the two brothers.
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Ian (34) and Daniel (43) Connaghan, of Ashington Rise, Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 7 have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael 'Mick' Mulvey (55) on November 27, 2019.
The brothers have also pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Mulvey at the Navan Road almost two weeks earlier on November 14, 2019.
They have further pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Mulvey on the same occasion.
Giving evidence today, Ms Pauline Matthews, the long-term partner of Mr Mulvey, told Ms Rowland that she and the deceased lived in the Darling Estate on the Navan Road. She said Mr Mulvey had been out of work for almost a year in November 2019 but was applying for jobs all the time.
Asked about Mr Mulvey's personality, the witness said he was extremely kind but that everybody knew he was "cranky".
On November 14 2019, Ms Matthews said her partner was driving back from Tesco in Cabra west around 5pm when they approached a pedestrian crossing outside a church on the Navan Road.
She added: "The traffic was extremely slow and as we were approaching the lights, this fella came out of the laneway and pressed the pedestrian crossing. Because the traffic was so slow he walked out in front of the car, if he waited on the lights he would have went behind our car".
Ms Matthews said that Mr Mulvey put his foot on the brake. "He got a shock and I got a shock too; someone walking out in front of you". The fella looked in the windscreen, came around Mick's side of the window, Mick rolled down the window, someone spat".
She said "the fella", who was of medium build, was shouting very aggressively and said "I'm gonna f**kin kill ya" as he walked away.
Garnet Orange SC, defending Ian Connaghan, told the jury that there is no doubt that this was his client at the scene.
Ms Matthews said they continued driving up the road and that her partner was "very shook" so they went for a drink at 'The Halfway House'. She said Mr Mulvey almost immediately disappeared when they ordered a drink so she presumed he had gone "for a smoke".
Twenty minutes later, the witness said her partner walked back into the pub and went straight to the gents toilets followed by the barman. "When he came out he sat beside me and he was very badly beaten up. He said to me 'they got me'," she said.
Ms Matthews began to get emotional in the witness box as she told the jury that her partner's face was "all bashed up", that he seemed very sore and was holding onto his sides. "He was in discomfort and shock," she said.
She said his friend Eddie Fagan helped Mr Mulvey and that they were "in and out of the toilets".
Ms Matthews got into bed that night but later awoke to find her partner was not there and she received a text to say he had gone to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
She found out he had sustained some damage to his face, had broken bones around his eyes and broken ribs to his right side.
Ms Matthews said her partner stayed in hospital for three days until November 18 but was still "very shook and still very sore" when he returned home. She said Mr Mulvey was home most of the time, sitting around in his dressing gown watching television or upstairs lying down.
Asked about his condition on November 24 and 25, Ms Matthews said he wasn't really improving, was mostly going from "couch to bed" and was "very down in himself".
When she saw him on November 26 - the day before he died - Ms Matthews said he was leaning over the kitchen sink holding himself and saying he didn't feel well. "He asked me to make my chicken curry, he took one bite out of it and said sorry he couldn't eat it," she said.
She said Mr Mulvey set the alarm clock on the night of November 26 as he had an interview the next day and that he went to sleep afterwards. The witness agreed with the prosecution that when she woke up the next morning her partner had sadly passed away.
Asked by prosecution counsel if Mr Mulvey had been hurt in any accident from the time of the incident happening on November 14 up until his passing on November 27, the witness said he had not.
Mr Orange, for Ian Connaghan, said his client accepted that he was the man present at the pedestrian crossing when this incident happened on the Navan Road and that he also accepted he had another confrontation with Mr Mulvey a few minutes after this.
It was put to Ms Matthews under cross-examination that she had used one word in her statement to repeatedly describe her partner and that was "cranky". "He was a bit cranky," she replied.
Asked if Mr Mulvey was prone to giving out about people as well, the witness said "sometimes" and agreed that he didn't always hold back about this. She also agreed that he was "down on himself" because he wasn't working and loved to work. Asked if this affected his crankiness, she said "a bit I suppose".
Mr Orange asked the witness if she ever saw her partner have an aggressive side when he took a few drinks. "He got a bit cranky," she said.
Ms Matthews agreed that her partner had an issue with the Connaghan family. Asked if she remembered "the start of the issue" that Mr Mulvey had with the Connaghans, Ms Matthews said her partner said they were always "bricking his windows".
Mr Orange put it to the witness that "kids from the area" had thrown stones at trains and at some stage a stone had ricocheted off Mr Mulvey's window. The witness said she wasn't disagreeing with this suggestion.
Mr Orange said having regard to his client's date of birth in 1989 it was highly unlikely for him to have been involved in the incident that started the dispute and that Mr Mulvey already had "beef" with the Connaghan family prior to 1996.
It is the State's case that the injuries sustained by Mr Mulvey, who had underlying issues such as ischemic heart disease, substantially contributed to his death but were not the sole cause.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of seven men and five women, when Ms Matthews will continue being cross-examined.
