This article is from page 16 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
LIAM Moloney suffered “pretty horrendous” injuries in a “planned and executed killing’, after he was “lured” to the countryside, the trial has heard.
Prosecution Set SKoyee] O’Connell told the jury last Wednes- day that the accused, Ruan native Anthony Kelly (54) with an address at Emlagh na Muck, Emlaghmore, Waterville, Kerry, intended to kill Mr Moloney (56).
Mr Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the separated father of four, at Portlecka, Ruan, Ennis, on February 11, 2005.
Mr Kelly has admitted unlawfully killing Mr Moloney, but claims he
was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and was of diminished responsibility.
Outlining the prosecution case to the jury, Mr O’Connell said, “I think you can infer from the injuries sus- tained by Liam Moloney that Antho- ny Kelly intended to kill him.”
“There were 17 major blows around the skull area…many fractures to the skull and face and the throat was cut from side to side,’ he said.
‘The motive which he had for kill- ing Mr Moloney was to enrich him- self…to steal money. He went to Mr Moloney’s flat after, but only got €500 to €600,” he said.
‘He (the deceased) was working on the evening of the killing. Anthony Kelly lured him to the place where
he killed him,” said Mr O’Connell. He said Mr Kelly “selected and
sharpened” his weapons in Water-
ville and then brought them to the
scene of the killing.
He said Mr Kelly had arranged to meet Mr Moloney at Considine’s pub in Barefield and Mr Moloney would drive him to Ruan.
After he had killed him, Mr Kelly took Mr Moloney’s cab and drove back to Barefield. He abandoned the cab there and it was found 24 hours Fitoe
He told the jury that Mr Kelly emi- erated to the US around 1970 and re- turned to Ireland in April 2001.
He worked in security in Shannon and moved to Waterville in 2003.
Liam Moloney, from Ennis, worked with Aer Lingus in Shannon after leaving school.
He retired in January 2002 and received a severance package of
€71,000. He then began working as a driver with Ennis Cabs.
Mr O’Connell said that Anthony Kelly told John Butler, a mutual friend, that he was to marry a Swed- ish woman in Stockholm in Decem- ber 2004. He had asked Mr Butler to be his best man and Mr Moloney to be his groomsman. The wedding was later cancelled and it was believed the story had been “fiction”, said Mr O’Connell.
At the outset of the trial, Mr Kelly pleaded guilty to six other charges, including robbing Mr Moloney and taking his car, on the same date. The trial is expected to conclude later WT Lete)