1:57

the

2:00

couple's two young daughters.

2:02

Brendan O'Sullivan told the attending officers

2:05

that Kenny had chased his children into the house

2:08

and that he had shot him to protect his

2:10

family. Garda Donal

2:12

Corkery asked him where the gun was and

2:15

he was led upstairs where he found a double-barrelled

2:17

shotgun standing upright against

2:19

a wall on the landing. Garda

2:22

Corkery asked Brendan O'Sullivan to accompany

2:24

him to the station voluntarily which

2:27

he agreed to and they headed for

2:29

Kilrush Garda station

2:30

just before half past eleven.

2:33

Upon searching the house Garda recovered

2:35

four spent cartridges which had been

2:37

placed in a coal scuttle in the sitting

2:39

room along with multiple rounds

2:41

of live ammunition. Officers

2:44

sealed off the scene and covered Kenny's

2:46

body with plastic pending the arrival

2:49

of the Claire Divisional Crime Scene Investigation

2:51

Unit. Realising the potential

2:54

scale of the investigation, Garda

2:56

at Kilrush requested that additional

2:58

officers be drafted in from Ennis to

3:00

help with the operation. A white

3:03

tent was erected around Leslie Kenny's body

3:05

while investigators awaited the arrival of

3:07

the state pathologist Dr. Mary Cassidy.

3:11

The incident had occurred in broad daylight

3:13

on a busy road and it was witnessed

3:15

by a number of residents so Garda

3:18

on the ground began door-to-door inquiries

3:20

to try and piece together the events that led

3:22

up to the shooting. Through

3:24

talking to local residents they learned that

3:26

Leslie Kenny's girlfriend Rebecca Blunney

3:29

lived a few doors up from the O'Sullivan's

3:31

and he himself had recently moved in with her

3:34

on a full-time basis. Multiple

3:36

witnesses gave similar accounts to the Garda

3:39

about the events of that morning. Just

3:41

after 10am a row erupted between

3:43

Brendan O'Sullivan and Leslie Kenny. Each

3:46

man was standing in their own garden when

3:48

a verbal altercation broke out between

3:50

them. According to the witnesses, O'Sullivan

3:53

was roaring and swearing as he called

3:55

Kenny to come over, but Kenny seemed

3:57

calm as he left the garden and approached.

4:00

O'Sullivan. None of the people

4:02

interviewed heard what Kenny said in response

4:04

to O'Sullivan's outburst but all agreed

4:06

that he wasn't aggressive or agitated.

4:08

The neighbours who saw the row unfold

4:11

said that they went back inside when they

4:13

saw Leslie walking towards Brendan O'Sullivan,

4:16

as Kenny had a fearsome reputation

4:19

and they didn't want to get involved in whatever was

4:21

about to happen. A series

4:23

of gunshots were heard a few minutes later.

4:27

Leslie Kenny had a formidable reputation

4:30

throughout the Kill Rush area, having

4:32

racked up more than 80 convictions during

4:34

his adult life, including offences

4:37

such as violent assault, robbery

4:39

and drug-related transgressions. Kenny's

4:42

problems with the law began in his early

4:44

teens when at the age of 14 he

4:46

started using drugs. By the

4:49

time he was 21, Leslie had already spent

4:51

a combined total of five years in

4:53

jail. During his spells in prison,

4:56

his recreational drug use spiralled into

4:58

heroin addiction and as a result

5:01

his life became a vicious cycle of

5:03

addiction, treatment centres and

5:05

incarceration. In

5:07

September of 2003, Kenny enrolled

5:10

in a Limerick drug treatment clinic for inpatient

5:13

treatment but was discharged two

5:15

days later after he was found to be still

5:17

under the influence of drugs. Following

5:20

his release he returned to Kill Rush and went

5:22

on a spree, stealing a mobile phone

5:24

before breaking the window of a shop from

5:27

which he robbed a handbag containing medication.

5:30

For these offences he was sentenced to 20

5:32

months in jail. He was back

5:35

before the court since September of 2005,

5:38

this time charged with damaging four cars

5:40

in Kill Rush Town Centre. While

5:42

waiting for his case to be heard at Ennis District

5:45

Court, Kenny assaulted another man

5:47

Raymond Dunavon who was attending a hearing

5:49

related to murder charges that he was facing.

5:52

Both men were in the same courtroom when Kenny

5:54

ran at Dunavon, caught him by the shirt

5:57

and tried to bite him. During this incident, he was

5:59

also a victim of a murder. He also threatened Dunavon

6:01

and caused such a commotion in the courtroom

6:03

that Judge Joseph Mangan had to flee

6:06

his bench and retreat to his chambers. For

6:09

this incident Kenny was sentenced to

6:11

five months in jail. Much

6:13

of Kenny's criminal history related to

6:15

petty crime offences and Garde described

6:18

him as a quote, nuisance and

6:20

a pest. But they said that he

6:22

was not involved in any gangland criminality.

6:26

Among other offences that Leslie Kenny had been

6:28

arrested for and charged with were assault,

6:30

burglary of a church, unauthorised taking

6:33

of a vehicle and possession of various

6:35

weapons such as knives, hammers and

6:37

syringes. According

6:39

to journalist Abigail Riley, Kenny

6:42

was an unpredictable character who was

6:44

widely known and feared throughout the community

6:46

in Kilrash. He was known to threaten

6:48

people who refused to share their prescription

6:51

drugs with him, and according to locals, Leslie

6:53

would terrorise anyone who crossed him

6:55

in any way. However, his brazen

6:58

antics hadn't gone unpunished by residents

7:00

in the town and in the years leading

7:02

up to his death, along with spending

7:05

long spells behind bars, Leslie

7:07

had also been on the receiving end of a number

7:09

of severe beatings. Reporting

7:12

for the Irish Independent, Eamer Connolly

7:14

wrote that in the aftermath of one such

7:16

attack a year before the shooting, the

7:18

damage done to Leslie Kenny's face was so

7:20

grotesque that he was unrecognisable.

7:24

But regardless of his criminal history and fearsome

7:26

reputation, he had been unlawfully

7:28

killed and it was now up to Gardee

7:31

to unpick the nature of his death. Brendan

7:34

O'Sullivan and Leslie Kenny had known each

7:36

other since childhood having attended the

7:39

same national school in Kilrash. Both

7:41

men's families were well known in the town, especially

7:44

O'Sullivan's as his mother owned a boutique

7:46

shop on Moore Street that sold homewares

7:48

and gifts. Despite their familiarity

7:51

and the fact that they grew up in close proximity

7:54

in the small town, O'Sullivan and Kenny

7:56

never had much interaction with each other. summer

8:00

of 2009 all of this would change when

8:03

the O'Sullivan's shop was broken into. In the

8:06

process of the robbery a handbag belonging

8:08

to Brendan O'Sullivan's mother was stolen and

8:11

he believed that Leslie Kenny was the perpetrator

8:13

of the crime. Tensions had been

8:15

rising steadily between the pair since and

8:18

in the weeks following the burglary Kenny suffered

8:20

a savage beating which he alleged had

8:23

been carried out by or on behalf

8:25

of O'Sullivan though no formal

8:27

complaint on the matter was made to Gardee.

8:29

A feud developed following

8:31

this attack and Leslie Kenny launched

8:34

something of an intimidation campaign

8:36

on Brendan O'Sullivan threatening to shoot

8:38

him at his back door, pour petrol in

8:40

his letterbox and hurt his wife and children.

8:44

The day before the shooting the intimidation

8:46

reached a new high. O'Sullivan's

8:48

sister-in-law Anna Karthy had been sitting

8:50

in her car outside the AIB bank

8:53

in Kilrush when Leslie Kenny and his

8:55

girlfriend Rebecca suddenly opened the

8:57

door and sat into the back seat. Kenny

9:00

told Karthy that he would hurt Brendan's two

9:02

young daughters threatening to slit

9:04

their throats and use a seven shooter

9:06

gun to put in the windows of the house.

9:08

It was this incident that

9:10

would ultimately set in motion the events

9:12

of the following morning. During

9:15

Brendan O'Sullivan's initial Gardee interview

9:18

he claimed that he had been up in his bedroom

9:20

when he heard his wife Claire screaming. He

9:23

said he had gone downstairs to find Claire hysterical

9:26

as she ran past him with their infant daughter

9:28

in her arms shouting quote, he's going

9:30

to kill us, he's going to kill us. O'Sullivan

9:33

said that he looked out the door to see Leslie Kenny

9:36

running up the path toward their house and

9:38

that was what had prompted him to run upstairs

9:41

and fetch the shotgun. The

9:43

gun was unloaded he told detectives

9:46

so he grabbed a handful of cartridges.

9:48

As he ran down the stairs he loaded

9:50

the gun and as Leslie Kenny came

9:52

through the gate he raised the shotgun and

9:55

pulled the trigger. O'Sullivan

9:57

told investigators that he had shot twice

9:59

aiming for the gun. the legs and that Kenny

10:01

had fallen but then got back up. This

10:04

was why he had reloaded the gun with two

10:06

more cartridges before shooting

10:08

Kenny in the legs. O'Sullivan

10:11

said that he didn't mean to kill Leslie

10:13

Kenny and when detectives asked him

10:15

why he had reloaded the gun after the first

10:18

round of shots he said he had done this because

10:20

he thought that the first shot hadn't hit Leslie

10:22

because the man had gotten up and made in his

10:25

direction. When asked why the whole

10:27

situation had occurred Brendan O'Sullivan

10:29

told detectives about the feud that had been

10:31

escalating between the two men detailing

10:34

the litany of threats his family had received

10:36

from Kenny. He was asked if he

10:38

had reported any of the threats to Gardee

10:40

but O'Sullivan said that he hadn't because he was quote

10:43

not one for going to the guards. Initial

10:46

eyewitness accounts stated that O'Sullivan

10:49

had been standing on the bench in his front garden

10:51

shouting at Kenny but when this was

10:53

put to him he denied it insisting

10:55

that his version of events was accurate. Investigators

10:59

asked him how and why he had come into

11:01

possession of the shotgun which was legally

11:04

owned and registered to a relative of his.

11:06

He told him that he had agreed

11:08

to mind it at the request of a cousin

11:11

who was afraid that her estranged husband

11:13

would use it to kill himself if she kept it

11:15

at her house. O'Sullivan said

11:17

that his wife Claire was against the idea

11:19

and didn't want the gun in the house but

11:22

he had agreed to look after it anyway. When

11:25

investigators put it to him that he had asked

11:27

his cousin for the gun to protect his family

11:29

Brendan O'Sullivan denied this vehemently

11:32

repeating that he was minding it at the request

11:34

of his cousin and never intended

11:36

to use it. O'Sullivan

11:39

also insisted that he was trying to protect his

11:41

family when he shot Kenny and that

11:43

he never intended to kill him he just wanted

11:46

to scare him off. He told investigators

11:48

he was terrified that Leslie Kenny would come

11:51

into his house one night and carry out

11:53

his threats. He said he hadn't been

11:55

sleeping because of this and had been put

11:57

on sleeping tablets to help. O'Sullivan

12:00

told Gardee, quote, All I could think

12:02

of was my wife and kids. If I wanted

12:05

to kill him, I would have shot him in the head. I

12:07

just wanted to scare him off. As

12:09

a result of this initial interview, Brendan

12:12

O'Sullivan was formally arrested and detained

12:14

under Section 30 of the Offences Against

12:16

the State Act, giving officers a further 72

12:19

hours to question him before they would have to

12:21

make a decision on whether or not to charge

12:24

him. Meanwhile, Dr.

12:26

Mary Cassidy arrived at the scene on Algorman

12:28

Street to conduct a preliminary examination.

12:31

She found Leslie Kenny lying against the

12:33

wall of the garden with shotgun injuries

12:36

to his trunk and lower body. As

12:38

ballistic experts continued their inspection

12:40

of the house and garden, Leslie's remains

12:43

were removed to University Hospital Limerick

12:45

for a full post-mortem examination, during

12:48

which it was found that he had suffered four shotgun

12:50

wounds. Dr. Cassidy

12:52

noted that the first bullet wound was to the

12:54

right side of the trunk, which had caused

12:56

injuries to the right lung and liver. The

12:59

second had hit Kenny's right hip, and

13:01

the third and fourth had hit each of his

13:03

knees, damaging the right femoral

13:06

artery and both popliteal vessels,

13:08

which run from the knees into the lower legs.

13:12

The pathologist determined that the first shot

13:14

had been fired from a distance of around 15 feet,

13:17

while the subsequent three shots were fired

13:19

from a closer range.

13:21

Death would have occurred rapidly due to

13:23

the extensive damage caused by the

13:25

injuries.

13:36

As detectives worked to tally the post-mortem

13:39

findings with Brendan O'Sullivan's account

13:41

and the eyewitness statements,

13:43

a number of inconsistencies emerged.

13:46

There were multiple people who saw the beginning

13:49

of the altercation on O'Gorman Street and

13:51

their accounts directly contradicted

13:53

O'Sullivan's story about Kenny chasing

13:56

O'Sullivan's wife and child. In

13:58

fact, all of the people who spoke to Gardee

14:01

named Brendan O'Sullivan as the instigator

14:03

of the incident. Dr Cassidy's

14:06

post-mortem findings also cast

14:08

doubt over O'Sullivan's recollection of the

14:10

shooting, in particular the positioning

14:12

of Kenny when the shots were fired. On

14:15

foot of these inconsistencies, Gardee

14:18

conducted a second interview. O'Sullivan

14:20

again detailed the threats that he and his family

14:23

had endured from Kenny prior to the shooting,

14:26

and then he repeated his account of Kenny

14:28

chasing his wife and child into the house.

14:31

According to O'Sullivan, Claire was screaming

14:33

that Kenny was going to kill them, and as

14:36

he ran down the stairs with the gun he said

14:38

that he heard Kenny scream quote, I'm

14:40

going to cut your throat and the child's throat

14:43

as well. O'Sullivan repeated

14:45

his narrative that he had loaded the gun as he came

14:47

down the stairs and raised the gun with his

14:49

right hand on the trigger. He fired

14:51

two shots in quick succession from the

14:54

doorway, knocking Kenny to the ground,

14:56

but O'Sullivan said that Kenny had gotten straight

14:58

back up and continued to come at him with

15:01

a quote, evil face. O'Sullivan

15:03

said he'd then broke the gun open and

15:05

the empty cartridges flew out. He

15:07

put two new ones in, closed the gun

15:10

and aimed for Kenny's legs before firing

15:12

another two shots. Detectives

15:15

asked Brendan O'Sullivan if Kenny had a

15:17

weapon in his hand, and O'Sullivan said that

15:19

he hadn't seen a weapon, but that Kenny had

15:21

his hand in his pocket. The

15:24

following day O'Sullivan was brought in for a

15:26

third interview, and this one differed

15:28

hugely from his previous two accounts

15:30

to detectives. He said that his

15:32

previous story of Kenny chasing his wife

15:34

and daughter was untrue, and

15:37

that on the morning of the shooting, his wife

15:39

had just returned home from the shop when he

15:41

looked out the window and saw Leslie

15:43

Kenny crossing the road near his house.

15:46

O'Sullivan wanted to confront him about

15:48

the threats he'd been making, so he stood

15:50

up on the bench outside his house. He

15:53

described the exchange to detectives,

15:55

saying that Kenny, who at this point was about

15:57

six houses away up the road, had sheened

15:59

up the at him that he had seven shots waiting

16:02

for him. At this point, Claire

16:04

O'Sullivan became distressed and

16:06

as Kenny continued to approach, she

16:09

started to scream that he was going to kill them. O'Sullivan

16:12

told her to get out the back door for her

16:14

own safety and he ran upstairs to

16:16

get the gun. He continued,

16:18

quote, I took the gun up, all

16:21

I could think about was that my wife and my kids

16:23

were going to be killed because of the threats he

16:25

was making to my family. During

16:28

previous accounts, O'Sullivan claimed that

16:30

all four shots were fired from the doorway

16:32

of the house. However, he now told

16:34

Gardee that the first two shots were fired

16:37

from the doorway and then he had gone to

16:39

the middle of the driveway and fired the third

16:41

and fourth shots at close range. In

16:44

a further subsequent interview, Brendan O'Sullivan

16:47

admitted that in response to Kenny's threat

16:49

about the seven shots, he had responded,

16:51

quote, if you shoot me with your seven shot,

16:54

you will be getting a shot back. He

16:56

also told Gardee he was sorry for what he

16:58

had done and repeated his claim that

17:00

he was in fear for his life and the lives of

17:02

his family. After

17:05

being interviewed over the course of three days,

17:07

Brendan O'Sullivan was brought to Ennis

17:09

District Court and was charged with the murder

17:11

of Leslie Kenny. He was supported

17:14

by a crowd of family and friends and his

17:16

solicitor, Eugene O'Kelly told the court that

17:18

his client would be fully defending the charge

17:20

of murder. In an unusual

17:23

move, Mr O'Kelly told Judge Leo

17:25

Malone that an independent post-mortem

17:27

was carried out on behalf of the defence

17:30

by Dr Alistair Bentley, who was the

17:32

deputy state pathologist for Northern Ireland.

17:35

The solicitor said he was making the court aware

17:37

of this as he would need O'Sullivan's legal

17:39

aid certificate extended to

17:41

cover the cost. Judge Malone

17:43

told Mr O'Kelly that he wasn't sure if he

17:45

had the authority to do this but said

17:47

that should the lawyer's research indicate

17:50

he had the ability to, he would

17:52

grant the order. Mr O'Kelly

17:54

assured the judge that the High Court would

17:56

sanction the extension provided it was brought

17:58

to their attention by Judge Malone. alone. Residents

18:02

of the quiet street where Leslie Kenny had been

18:04

shot were in shock. His

18:06

death was the first fatal shooting in the history

18:08

of Kill Rush, and locals were horrified

18:11

at the nature of the crime, with one quoted

18:13

as saying, This is a grand street and I

18:15

have lived here all my life. Despite the

18:17

problems the town has had, this kind of thing is still

18:19

shocking. And it's very shocking that

18:21

something like this can happen in your own street, where

18:24

there are children playing and people doing their everyday

18:26

business. Local county

18:28

councillor Gabriel Keating echoed this

18:30

sentiment as he spoke to journalist Carol

18:33

Byrne, who covered the story for the Claire Champion.

18:35

He said, quote, This happened

18:37

at half ten on a beautiful summer's morning

18:39

in a quiet area with a lot of people in

18:42

town. It's such a shame. Leslie

18:45

Kenny was laid to rest at All Saints Cemetery

18:47

in Chanukahal on Tuesday, August

18:50

4th, 2009. The Requiem

18:52

Mass was celebrated by Father Michael

18:54

Sheedy, who acknowledged that the large congregation

18:57

of mourners at St. Senan's Church was

18:59

present out of respect and shock, rather

19:02

than curiosity. Father Sheedy

19:04

had known Leslie well, he said, and

19:06

he recalled a number of chats they had had in the

19:08

past when Leslie told the priest he

19:10

was trying to straighten out. The

19:13

last time Father Sheedy saw Leslie Kenny

19:15

was a few months before, when he and his girlfriend

19:18

Rebecca had come into the church to pray. During

19:21

his homily, he spoke at length about Leslie's

19:23

life, saying that nobody could claim to be

19:25

without fault as they lived their lives, and

19:27

Leslie was no different. He should

19:29

not be subject to critical judgment, said

19:32

the priest, adding that regardless

19:34

of the manner in which an individual lived,

19:36

nobody deserved to die in the violent way

19:38

that Leslie had. Six

19:41

weeks after he was charged with Leslie Kenny's

19:43

murder, Brendan O'Sullivan was granted bail

19:46

and was released on a surety of 10,000 euros,

19:49

with O'Sullivan's own bond of 1,000 euros.

19:52

He kept his head down as he awaited trial,

19:54

but tensions were still simmering between the

19:56

Kenny and O'Sullivan families. On

19:59

March 14th, 2010, eight

20:01

months after the shooting, Brendan O'Sullivan's

20:03

stepfather, Simon Madigan, was at the

20:05

Abyss nightclub in Kilkey when

20:08

he was approached by Leslie Kenny's brother, Jonathan.

20:11

Jonathan allegedly told Madigan that

20:13

if he saw Brendan he would kill him and

20:15

that he had a shotgun at his house ready. It

20:18

was also claimed that Jonathan Kenny made

20:20

threats against Claire O'Sullivan, saying

20:22

he would make sure she would be in a wheelchair

20:24

for the rest of her life. Simon

20:27

Madigan went to Kilrush Garda station

20:29

a number of days later to make a statement to Garde

20:32

regarding the encounter and Jonathan

20:34

Kenny was subsequently arrested and charged

20:37

with making threats towards Brendan and Claire

20:39

O'Sullivan. The case

20:41

came before Ennis Circuit Court in October

20:43

of 2010 but when prosecuting counsel

20:46

Mr. Stephen Coughlin asked Simon Madigan

20:48

to describe the incident to the jury, he

20:50

refused to give evidence saying quote, you

20:53

have it there in the statement, I don't want to give

20:55

evidence against this man here today. Based on

20:58

Madigan's refusal to give evidence, Judge

21:00

Rory McCabe directed the jury to acquit

21:02

Jonathan Kenny. Less

21:05

than two weeks later, on November 1st 2010,

21:08

the murder trial opened at the central criminal

21:10

court in Dublin before Mr. Justice

21:12

Patrick McCarthy. Brendan O'Sullivan

21:15

pleaded not guilty. In

21:17

his opening statement, Michael Durock, senior

21:19

counsel appearing on behalf of the DPP,

21:22

told the jury that on the morning of July

21:25

29th 2009, Leslie Kenny

21:27

had followed his daily routine of going to

21:29

the local chemist to collect his medication.

21:32

He was returning back to his home on O'Gorman

21:34

Street at around 10am and within

21:37

half an hour he had been shot dead. Mr.

21:40

Durock said the court would hear that a

21:42

double barrelled shotgun was used to kill

21:44

Leslie Kenny and that four spent

21:46

shotgun cartridges were found at the scene.

21:49

Evidence would be given on how two shots were

21:51

fired before the gun was reloaded

21:53

and fired two more times. The

21:56

prosecuting counsel admitted that Leslie Kenny

21:58

was quote, no angel. He

22:00

may have been of questionable character, but

22:03

the prosecution were not seeking to mitigate

22:05

this. Whatever his character, Leslie

22:07

Kenny's death was not lawful, and

22:10

in effect it amounted to premeditated

22:12

murder. Mr. Dirac told

22:14

the jury, quote, I suggest to you that

22:16

by the time you hear all the evidence, you will

22:19

be satisfied that Mr. O'Sullivan is

22:21

guilty

22:21

of murder.

22:23

Thomas Casey, a neighbour of both O'Sullivan

22:26

and Kenny, told the court that shortly

22:28

after 10am on the morning in question,

22:30

he heard two men arguing and cursing.

22:33

He heard one of the men saying, quote, we'll

22:35

sort out this mess. Mr.

22:37

Casey said he looked out his front door and

22:40

saw Leslie Kenny at the door of his own house.

22:43

Casey then went back inside, and he

22:45

heard a loud bang. Joanne

22:48

Carrig, who was the sister of Kenny's girlfriend,

22:51

Rebecca, said that she was in her own

22:53

house on the street when she heard a loud argument

22:56

outside. She went out to see if

22:58

she could see anything but couldn't, so

23:00

she returned inside. Ms. Carrig

23:02

said she then heard a bang, which she thought

23:04

sounded like a shotgun, followed by

23:06

two more shots. There was a pause

23:09

of about 45 seconds before the second

23:11

set of shots. Joanne said

23:13

she rang Garde and went back outside

23:15

to see Brendan O'Sullivan pacing up and down

23:18

in his garden and speaking on his phone.

23:21

She then saw O'Sullivan's father and stepmother

23:23

coming, just as her own sister Rebecca

23:25

arrived to find the body of her boyfriend. Rebecca,

23:28

she said, was screaming, Leslie, over

23:30

and over again. Under

23:33

cross-examination from Senior Council

23:35

John Phelan defending, Ms. Carrig

23:37

said she knew that Leslie Kenny was involved

23:39

in drugs and theft and that he drank.

23:42

She claimed that she wasn't aware whether or not people

23:44

in the town were frightened of him and she

23:46

didn't know if he had any convictions for carrying

23:49

weapons. She told the court, quote,

23:51

he was very polite to me. I can't speak

23:53

ill of him. He was never violent or aggressive

23:56

to me. Another

23:58

resident on the street passed Brendan O'Sullivan. Brazel gave

24:00

evidence that on the morning of the shooting he was

24:02

outside his house which was opposite Brendan

24:05

O'Sullivan's. He was speaking to

24:07

a neighbour when he said he saw O'Sullivan come

24:09

out of his house and stand on the bench in his

24:11

garden. Mr Brazel said that

24:13

O'Sullivan started shouting at Leslie Kenny

24:16

who was about eight houses up along the street

24:19

saying quote, come down and we'll talk about

24:21

it. He told the court that he saw Leslie

24:23

Kenny approach O'Sullivan's house and

24:25

that he then went back inside his own house

24:28

as he didn't want to get involved. Mr

24:30

Brazel said he heard nothing after this due

24:32

to a hearing problem. He added

24:34

that Brendan O'Sullivan was a quote, model

24:36

neighbour and that though he didn't know

24:39

Kenny, he knew that he had a reputation.

24:41

A further eyewitness

24:44

named Jared Tevlin told the court that

24:46

he had been dropping his daughter off to a house on

24:48

the street at about 20 past 10 when

24:50

he saw one man roaring at another man who

24:52

was walking up the street. The

24:55

man who was shouting was standing on something in

24:57

his garden as he roared quote,

24:59

will you fucking come down and talk to me? Maureen

25:03

Tevlin who was Jared Tevlin's sister-in-law

25:05

gave evidence next. She said that

25:07

as she took her niece into the house she saw

25:09

Brendan O'Sullivan standing on a bench shouting.

25:12

She didn't see who he was shouting at but

25:15

said that he was using quote, strong

25:17

language. She went inside

25:19

and phoned Garde saying that there was a dispute

25:21

in the neighbourhood. Brendan

25:24

O'Sullivan's father, Brendan Sr. gave

25:26

evidence that on the morning of the 29th

25:28

of July 2009 he had received

25:30

a frantic phone call from his son who

25:33

said that he had killed someone in the garden before

25:35

hanging up. Brendan Sr. and his

25:37

wife rushed to the house on Oak Ormond Street arriving

25:40

less than five minutes later to find Brendan

25:42

sitting on the garden bench. His stepmother

25:45

asked who he had shot and Brendan

25:47

told them to turn around. Brendan

25:49

Sr. told the court it was then they saw

25:51

Leslie Kenny's body lying at the bottom of the

25:53

garden. He asked his son why

25:56

he had shot the man but got no response. Brendan Sr. went in the

25:58

garden bench and tried to get his son to go to the side

26:00

where he found Claire O'Sullivan at the back of the house

26:02

crying, just as Gardee arrived at

26:05

the scene. Garda Richard

26:07

Burke, who was the first officer on the scene,

26:09

told the court that O'Sullivan seemed calm when

26:11

he arrived at about 25 to 11. He said that O'Sullivan had

26:16

told him that Kenny chased his kids into the

26:18

house by way of explanation of what had happened.

26:21

Garda Burke found Leslie's body at the bottom

26:23

of the garden and he called Superintendent

26:25

Michael Cummins, who arrived within

26:28

minutes with a number of other Gardee. Garda

26:31

Donal Corkrey gave evidence of entering

26:33

the house at 11.10am where Brendan

26:35

O'Sullivan was present with his wife and a number

26:37

of other family members. Garda Corkrey

26:40

detailed the conversation he had had with O'Sullivan

26:43

who had told him, quote, I was protecting my family.

26:45

He was going after Claire. I heard her shouting

26:48

and I saw him. Garda Corkrey

26:50

then testified that he had asked O'Sullivan to

26:52

accompany

26:52

him to the station voluntarily,

26:55

which he had agreed to, and he was questioned

26:57

there after being positioned.

27:08

Following the eyewitness testimony, videos

27:11

of Brendan O'Sullivan's five Garda interviews

27:13

were shown to the jury, tracking the changes

27:16

in his story over the course of his three days

27:18

of questioning. Once these

27:20

had concluded, the court heard forensic evidence

27:23

from Dr. Mary Cassidy, who detailed

27:25

the nature of the shotgun wounds on Leslie

27:27

Kenny's body. It was Dr.

27:29

Cassidy's opinion that the first gunshot,

27:32

which caused the injury to the trunk, was

27:34

shot from a distance of about 15 feet.

27:37

However, she says the injuries to the hip and

27:39

knees were from a closer range. On

27:42

inspection of the wound path of the bullets,

27:44

the pathologist surmised that the first

27:46

injury occurred while Kenny was standing,

27:49

but that the second shot was likely discharged

27:51

when Kenny was lying on the ground or attempting

27:54

to get back up. The two final

27:56

shots to the knees were sustained by Leslie

27:58

while he was lying on the ground.

27:59

ground.

28:01

This contradicted Brendan O'Sullivan's account

28:03

which stated that the first two shots were

28:05

fired together from the doorway as a

28:07

warning and the subsequent two

28:09

shots were fired at a closer range.

28:13

Ballistic evidence was heard from Detective

28:15

Garda-Louise O'Lachlan of the ballistic section

28:17

of the technical bureau who examined the

28:19

scene at O'Gorman Street in the aftermath of the shooting.

28:22

In the house Detective Garda-O'Lachlan said that

28:25

she found both live and discharged

28:27

cartridges. Firstly, in

28:29

an infant's bedroom on the ground floor she

28:31

found a live shotgun cartridge on top

28:33

of a wooden cabinet. In the kitchen

28:36

she found three more live cartridges on

28:38

a cupboard over the microwave and

28:40

in the bedside locker of the master bedroom

28:42

she found a box of ammunition containing

28:45

seven live cartridges. The

28:47

four spent cartridges said the detective

28:49

were all found in the coal spittle in

28:51

the sitting room. Detective

28:53

Garda-O'Lachlan went on to describe the gun

28:55

itself to the jury. It had

28:57

an automatically engaged safety

29:00

catch which, according to the detective,

29:02

meant that when the gun barrel is opened and

29:04

reloaded, the safety catch automatically

29:07

comes on when the barrel is closed again and

29:09

must be taken off in order to fire the

29:11

gun. She also told

29:13

the court how the gun has two triggers, one

29:15

for each barrel.

29:17

These combined features would make unintentional

29:20

discharge highly unlikely. As part

29:22

of her examination,

29:24

the ballistics expert had carried out a number

29:26

of range determination tests using

29:28

the shotgun and through these

29:31

assessments she determined that

29:33

the first shot to Leslie Kenny had been

29:35

discharged at a range of 16 to 24

29:38

feet, the second had been shot

29:40

at a range of 2 to 4 feet and the final

29:42

two shots were fired at a range of 1 to 2

29:45

feet away. This corroborated

29:47

the earlier evidence of Dr. Mary Cassidy

29:50

which once again contradicted Brendan

29:52

O'Sullivan's account. Julie

29:55

McKiernan was called on behalf of the defence

29:57

to tell the court how Brendan O'Sullivan, first

30:00

cousin had come to be in possession of her

30:02

husband's shotgun. The prosecution

30:04

had contended throughout the trial that O'Sullivan

30:07

had sought out the weapon from Julie for protection,

30:10

but Julie contested this. She

30:12

recalled that in the weeks leading up to July

30:14

29th, some trouble had arisen in her

30:16

marriage to Kevin McKiernan, who was

30:18

the licensed holder of the shotgun. Julie

30:21

McKiernan was concerned that her husband might

30:24

use the shotgun on himself, so

30:26

she thought it would be safer if it was not in the

30:28

house. She claimed that she had asked

30:30

Gardee if they could take it into their custody,

30:32

but her request was declined. And

30:35

so it was under these circumstances

30:37

that she had asked her cousin Brendan to look after

30:39

the gun temporarily. Julie

30:42

said that O'Sullivan never mentioned wanting

30:44

to use the gun for protection, and

30:46

she thought nothing more of it until she received

30:48

a phone call from him on July 29th at

30:51

around 1040 a.m. telling her that

30:53

Leslie had been shot. She rushed

30:55

to the house and found Brendan O'Sullivan shaking.

30:58

He told her quote, I thought he was going to kill

31:00

them, though Julie said he gave no

31:02

further account of what had happened. Also

31:06

called for the defence was O'Sullivan's sister-in-law,

31:08

Anna Karthi, who recalled that the day

31:11

before the shooting she had been sitting in her car

31:13

and kill Rush when Leslie Kenny and Rebecca

31:15

Blunney had jumped into the back seat. Ms

31:17

Karthi alleged that Kenny had said he would hurt

31:20

Brendan and Claire's kids and had threatened

31:22

to quote slit their throats and get a seven

31:24

shot repeater and blow in the back

31:26

window on top of the two girls. The

31:29

witness said that she was terrified of Kenny, who

31:31

she described as unpredictable. That

31:34

night Brendan O'Sullivan had come to visit her,

31:36

and the incident was weighing on her mind from

31:38

earlier in the day, so she told him what

31:40

had happened and what Kenny had threatened to do.

31:44

Anna's evidence concluded to the defence's

31:46

case. In his closing speech

31:48

for the prosecution, Michael Durack told

31:50

the jury that O'Sullivan had lured Kenny

31:53

to his home patch before shooting him.

31:55

He had continued to give an inaccurate

31:58

account of what had really happened. happened, and

32:00

contrary to O'Sullivan's story that Kenny

32:02

had been running toward him, forensic

32:05

evidence from Dr Cassidy and the

32:07

ballistics expert suggested that

32:09

in fact he had been bearing down

32:11

on Leslie Kenny as he fired the shotgun.

32:14

However, John Phelan, defending, asked

32:17

the jury to put themselves in his client's

32:19

position and to take into account the

32:21

threats made by, quote, an unpleasant

32:24

man. He also asked them to

32:26

consider the fact that shooting Kenny in broad

32:29

daylight at half ten in the morning in

32:31

a housing estate was, quote, not

32:33

the attitude of someone who planned to murder

32:35

someone. Mr Justice

32:37

Patrick McCarthy charged the jury and

32:40

they were sent away to deliberate. However,

32:42

O'Sullivan's defence team requested that the

32:44

jury be recharged. They believed

32:46

that the judge's initial charge was not clear

32:49

enough, and that the jury would not understand

32:51

that apart from guilty or not guilty

32:53

of murder, there was also an option of not

32:55

guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter

32:58

available to them. This option would

33:00

be relevant if the jury believed that the

33:02

accused was acting in self-defence, but

33:04

had wrongly believed that his excessive force

33:06

was reasonable in this situation. Mr

33:09

Justice McCarthy refused the request

33:11

for a recharge. Early

33:14

in the stages of their deliberation, the jury

33:16

asked for two pieces of evidence to be brought

33:18

into the jury room. These were a mobile

33:20

phone which had been found broken during a search

33:23

of O'Sullivan's house and a paper target,

33:26

which was similar to a target that might be used

33:28

during shooting practice. During

33:30

his Garda interview, O'Sullivan had told officers

33:33

that he had never shot the gun before and

33:35

so the presence of a shooting target in his house

33:37

might cast doubt over this. However,

33:40

there was a problem. Although the mobile

33:42

phone and paper target had been collected

33:45

and tagged as part of the investigation,

33:47

they had never been entered as evidence and

33:50

didn't form any part of the prosecution's

33:52

case. The jury were told

33:54

that they couldn't have the items and

33:57

they were sent to lunch as the legal arguments

33:59

regarding it. this issue began. The Sullivan's

34:02

defence team wanted to know how the jury

34:04

knew about the existence of the paper target,

34:06

since it had not been in evidence. They

34:09

could find no answer for this and they feared

34:11

that because the jury were speculating on events

34:13

not covered during the trial, they could be

34:15

heading towards a verdict that wasn't based

34:18

on the evidence provided. John

34:20

Phelan asked for the jury to be discharged

34:22

on the back of this, but Justice McCarthy

34:25

refused this submission, saying that

34:27

the jury should be trusted to do their job.

34:30

Later that day, after just two hours

34:33

of deliberation, the jury returned

34:35

a unanimous verdict, finding Brendan

34:37

O'Sullivan guilty of murder. There

34:40

was an outcry in the court as the judgement was

34:42

read out. O'Sullivan nodded and

34:44

said thank you to the judge as he was handed a life

34:47

sentence for the murder while his wife Claire

34:49

broke down and wept as she embraced her

34:51

husband. According to journalist

34:54

Abigail Riley, as O'Sullivan's family

34:56

were leaving the courthouse, they bumped into a small

34:58

group of the jurors at a pedestrian traffic

35:00

light. There were angry scenes

35:02

with the supporters of the convicted man shouting

35:05

he's not guilty as the jurors hurried

35:07

away visibly upset. After

35:10

the trial, tensions continued to simmer

35:13

between the Kenny and O'Sullivan families and

35:15

four months after the verdict, O'Sullivan

35:18

spoke to Cahill MacMahon of the Irish Daily

35:20

Mirror about the abuse and intimidation

35:23

she said she'd been suffering due to this ongoing

35:25

feud. She told him, quote, last

35:27

Sunday night someone came along with a hatchet

35:30

and broke all the windows on my car. She

35:32

continued, quote, they put an axe through the

35:34

roof before leaving it in the child's seat

35:36

in the back of the car. I'm terrified for my

35:39

life. I am petrified. I'm afraid

35:41

my children will be attacked in their beds. So

35:43

I'm sleeping on the couch downstairs. She

35:46

alleged that Brendan's mother and cousins

35:48

had also been targeted in the attacks connected

35:51

to the feud. Claire said that all this

35:53

had been ongoing since the end of the trial

35:55

the November before and she saw no way

35:57

to end the conflict without one or other of

35:59

the families leaving Kilrush altogether.

36:02

But John Casey, who was Leslie Kenny's

36:05

stepfather, claimed that his family had

36:07

nothing to do with the attacks. He asserted

36:09

that there was no feud ongoing as far

36:11

as they were concerned. John Casey's

36:14

sister-in-law Alice said that their family

36:16

had also been the victim of attacks and

36:18

alleged that John's car had been smashed up

36:20

by someone wielding a baseball bat. She

36:23

commented, quote, This should have ended in Dublin

36:25

at the trial. It has the potential to grow into

36:28

something bigger. It is a possibility that

36:30

more people could die. Senior

36:32

Guard of Sources in Kilrush confirmed

36:35

that tensions were running high and that

36:37

a number of complaints had been made regarding violent

36:39

incidents. Quote, There are two families

36:42

here and both have serious grievances and

36:44

regrets. It's not all one-sided

36:46

as some might make out. In 2013,

36:50

Brendan O'Sullivan lodged an appeal against

36:52

his conviction based on what his defence

36:54

team said was the quote, failure to direct

36:56

the jury properly with regard to the partial

36:58

defence of self-defence. Council

37:01

for O'Sullivan Michael O'Higgins said

37:03

that the judge's charge ultimately failed

37:05

to adequately cover what he called the middle

37:07

ground between an acquittal and a

37:10

guilty verdict and as a result, the

37:12

jury were quote, left in a hopeless state

37:14

of confusion with regard to the option

37:17

of finding O'Sullivan not guilty of murder

37:19

but guilty of manslaughter. However,

37:21

the Court of Criminal Appeal subsequently ruled

37:24

that the directions given by the judge were adequate

37:27

and there was no miscarriage of justice.

37:30

Following this dismissal, O'Sullivan applied

37:32

to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have his appeal

37:35

referred to the Supreme Court but

37:37

this application was ultimately denied

37:39

by the CCA who determined that

37:41

in O'Sullivan's case, the jury simply did

37:44

not accept that O'Sullivan was acting in

37:46

self-defence. As

37:48

a result of the feuding and attacks between

37:51

the Kennies and O'Sullivan's, Claire O'Sullivan

37:53

eventually moved abroad with her children out

37:56

of fear for their safety. However,

37:58

the rest of the O'Sullivan family still live

38:00

in Kilrush, as do the Kennys, and

38:03

the feud has died down in recent years.

38:06

As Leslie Kenny's step-aunt Alice Casey

38:08

said, quote, there are no winners

38:10

in this. One lad is dead, another

38:13

lad is behind bars. Let's

38:15

just leave it at that. Thank

38:18

you for listening to Mens Rhea, a true crime

38:20

podcast. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter

38:22

and Instagram at MensRheaPod, or

38:25

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38:29

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38:33

Patrons get ad-free episodes, bonus

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episodes, nifty merch, and of course, my unending

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thanks and undying love.

38:40

Special thanks this week goes out to Dylan.

38:42

Please do check it out at patreon.com forward

38:44

slash mensreahpod. Our

38:46

theme music is Quinn's Song, The Dance Begins

38:49

by Kevin MacLeod. Additional music

38:51

is by Juanita Meisel and Kevin MacLeod.

38:54

This week's episode was researched and written

38:56

by the amazing Aileen Spearan. Additional

38:59

writing and production was by me, your host

39:01

Sinead. All sources for today's episode

39:03

can be found in the show notes or on our

39:05

website,

39:06

www.mensreahpod.com.

39:11

And so, till next time, don't

39:14

do anything I wouldn't do. And

39:24

so, till next time, don't do anything I wouldn't do.