A man has been acquitted of the manslaughter of his mother’s partner who he struck with a baseball bat during a row.
The jury heard that Ronan Byrne (31) allegedly fractured James Marren’s leg during the dispute and that days after a cast was put on his leg a blood clot developed and travelled to his heart, which proved fatal.
Mr Byrne, of Lohunda Downs, Clonsilla, Blanchardstown, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the unlawful killing of Mr Marren (57) at that address on October 31st, 2013.
He also denied producing a baseball bat during a dispute and assaulting Mr Marren causing him harm at the same address on October 26th, 2013.
The defendant’s mother, Mairead Byrne, and Mr Marren had been in a relationship for at least 13 years.
On the ninth day of the trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty on the charge of manslaughter. They also returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty on the charges of assault and production of an article after deliberating for over 3½ hours.
The accused’s brother Cillian Byrne told the court he was 16 in October 2013 when his mother and Mr Marren came home from a day of socialising and were “a bit drunk”.
He told the trial that over the years he frequently saw Mr Marren turn into “a different man” when he was drinking whiskey. He said the deceased would verbally abuse the accused and often struck or choked him.
Afraid
Mr Byrne said the accused was afraid of Mr Marren and would never hit him back or speak up for himself. He said Mr Marren was a strong man and was bigger than him or his brothers.
On the night in question he said Mr Marren was calling the accused “a scumbag” and telling him he was not a good father to his young daughter. He said that the accused went into his bedroom to check on his daughter and the deceased followed him.
Mr Byrne said there was a scuffle and he saw the two men holding each other in headlocks. He said he tried to separate them and Mr Marren ended up on the ground and that he was holding him down and telling him to relax.
He said he did not want Mr Marren to get up and attack the accused again. He told the jury that his brother walked off and was holding a wooden bat when he returned, which he struck the deceased with around two or three times.
The witness said he was screaming and crying and he rang gardaí. He said the whole incident lasted about 30 seconds and afterwards the accused left the house with his daughter.
Mr Marren was brought to hospital in an ambulance and came home the next day with his leg in a cast. He spent the next three days resting and sleeping on a mattress on the ground floor of the house as the cast made it difficult for him to walk and to get upstairs.
Pale in the face
Mr Byrne said that four days after he returned to the house he saw Mr Marren turn pale in the face while they were chatting. He said he was calling for an ambulance when he saw Mr Marren’s eyes go to the back of his head.
“I think he had a seizure. He died shortly after that,” he said.
Ms Byrne told the jury that Mr Marren would shout a lot at the defendant, but not her other sons. She said she recalled Mr Marren assaulting and hurting the accused and that the abuse started a few years after her partner arrived at the house.
Ms Byrne agreed that Mr Marren discharged himself from hospital the day after the incident. She recalled that he said a couple of times that he was not feeling well and she wanted to ring an ambulance, but he would not let her.
During an interview with gardaí, the accused said he hit Mr Marren a couple times on the head and legs and that they could not have been “full swings” as the hall was narrow. He said he held the bat in two hands and that it was not heavy.
Gardaí asked why he needed to hold it in two hands if it was not heavy. Mr Byrne said the deceased could have gotten the bat off him while he was trying to defuse the situation.
He denied the deceased got him so angry that he lashed out with a bat and hit him “a fair few times”. He said he was not particularly angry and just wanted to defuse the situation and get his child out of the house.
He denied that he could have “boxed” Mr Marren, saying that a couple of “boxes” would not have been enough as the deceased was a strong man.