wo men will be jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering a father of two after a stag do.
Vincent Parsons, 34, was beaten to death after the trial heard he had too much to drink at the stag, became “messy” and irritated one of the two men found guilty yesterday at the Central Criminal Court.
Philip Disney, 27 of Donomore Crescent, and Sean Carlyle, 30, of Donomore Avenue, Tallaght, South Dublin had denied murdering Vincent.
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He was attacked at Killinarden Way, near the Killinarden Inn in Tallaght, on the night of August 26, 2019.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, members of Mr Parsons’ family and supporters wept as the guilty verdict was delivered.
The jury of six men and six women arrived at their verdict after four hours and 48 minutes of their deliberations over two days. The two guilty men face the mandatory life sentence for murder and the case was adjourned by Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo to January 13, to allow time for the preparation of a victim impact statement.
Mr Lorcan Staines SC, for the prosecution, had told the court the deceased had been drinking for several hours at a friend’s stag do when he became “messy”, started hugging people and began to irritate others in the Killinarden Inn before coming to the attention of Disney.
CCTV played for the jury showed that there were words between them.
Counsel said Disney became irritated and agitated and could be seen raising his arm and pointing at Mr Parsons before saying something to him. CCTV showed Mr Parsons leaving the pub after that interaction and then, once outside, running from the pub.
Counsel said: “Whatever it was that was said, it caused Vincent Par-sons to run.
“He immediately left the pub out the front door and ran left and away from the pub.”
Mr Staines told the jury that Mr Parsons ran “as if his life depended on it”. Counsel told the jury that the two men got into a van and caught up with Mr Parsons and beat him to death on a green area at Killinarden Way.
Mr Staines had told the jury that the two accused had “acted together each and every step of the way in common de- sign” before and after the killing, which the CCTV evidence showed.
The prosecution’s case was that the two accused left the pub within minutes of Mr Parsons’ departure, got into a black van and then got out of the van at the nearby green area where they beat Mr Parsons to death. Just 48 seconds after stopping at the green area, they got back into the van and drove to Mr Carlyle’s home, footage showed.
The State’s case was that Carlyle changed his clothes and then left the van at a nearby housing estate. Both men then got a lift back to the pub.
A watch belonging to Mr Parsons, which was a gift from his daughter with the inscription, “To Dad, love Jade, Xmas 2011”, was found in the van that the prosecution alleged belonged to Carlyle.
A pathologist told the court that Mr Parsons’ cause of death was brain damage due to a shortage of blood flow as a result of a heart attack, which was in turn caused by severe facial injuries and the inhalation of blood.
Mr Parsons’ brother, David, who was in the pub on the night, told the court that Vincent “would never start a fight with anyone”.
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