Reality TV star Paddy Doherty has told how convicted murderer Joe Joyce insisted to him that he “tried to kill nobody”.
Speaking out in a lengthy video, the well-known My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star, 63, also called on God to “forgive Joe for what he done,” while insisting the boxer, who was convicted last week of the murder of John Paul McDonagh, is not evil.
Hulking brawler Joyce, 32, who is originally from Moate, Co Westmeath, is now serving a life sentence for the brutal killing of his teenage neighbour Mr McDonagh in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, in April 2020.
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Joyce, who was once a well-known bare-knuckle boxer, killed the young man by striking him with a slash hook in the leg in an incident that was caught on CCTV. But now Paddy Doherty has spoken out — and called for peace between both families — and to allow the parents of Mr McDonagh to grieve.
“God rest his lovely, lovely soul and may God help his Mammy and Daddy and his brothers and sisters and all belonging to him. It’s a terrible thing that their son has been taken away,” he said.
But Paddy, who once won Celebrity Big Brother, also told how he believed Joe Joyce didn’t intend to kill John Paul — and claims he told him so on the phone.
“But for me, in my honest opinion, we all argue, we all fight.
“You have to be evil to kill anyone. And I swear on my life, I’m not just saying it. Young Joe used to say to me a million times on the phone: ‘Paddy Doherty, there’s no way in a million year I tried to kill that young fella. I tried to kill nobody’,” he said.
Paddy added that Joe Joyce also told him he was sorry for what happened, and that his family’s lives have been turned upside down.
“‘I’m so, so sorry but I’ve got to live with that,’ he said.
“‘I’ve turned my family’s life upside down,’ he said.”
Paddy added that now that the verdict has happened, it’s up to both sides to keep the peace — and he said any name-calling should stop.
“Joe I’m sorry for you because of your life, what can you say? May God be good to you and to that McDonagh boy — give him his bed in heaven.
“But you know the old name calling and calling this and I’m glad he’s this and glad he’s that; forget when our Lord died for us, he died for the world.
“When he died on the cross he looked to his Father and said Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.
“With Travellers it’s the same way. They don’t know what they’re doing or saying.
“One young fella died, he had his life ahead of him. No one deserves to die. Young Joe phoned me up and said, ‘You know Paddy Doyle no way did I intend to kill that young fella’.
“Believe me there’s no evil in the young fella. He’s a good old temperament. He’s honest.
“God knows he didn’t mean to kill that young fella.
“Forgive Joe for what he done,” he said.
During his trial, the court heard how John Paul McDonagh sustained a fatal wound to his lower leg during what the prosecution described as a “street battle” outside the Enniskillen home of Joe Joyce in April 2020.
In a trial that spanned three weeks, a jury of eight men and four women were shown CCTV footage which captured the fatal wound being inflicted on Mr McDonagh.
In the CCTV footage Joyce, who previously served time in prison after he was convicted of assaulting his wife Ellen with a horse whip, could be seen standing on the street outside his home.
Brandishing a slash-hook in one hand and plastic bottle filled with ammonia in the other, the footage captured Joyce engaging in what the court heard was a “street battle” against other men.
The footage also captured Joyce administering the fatal blow to the back of Mr McDonagh’s left leg.
Despite receiving medical treatment both at the scene of the assault and in the South West Acute Hospital, Mr McDonagh passed away on the morning of April 13, 2020.
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