Overview
- Victim impact statements from cousins Michael Walsh and Sandra Culkin described Mr Niland’s prolonged suffering and urged sentences that reflect the gravity of the attack.
- Garda evidence detailed prior reconnaissance of the home, a forced-entry assault, the theft of about €800, and the disposal of a wallet and gloves later linked to the men by DNA and CCTV.
- Doctors reported brain bleeding, a fractured eye socket and multiple rib fractures, and the State Pathologist attributed his 2023 death to blunt force head trauma from the assault.
- Francis Harman, John Clarke and John Irving have pleaded guilty to manslaughter, with Harman and Clarke entering pleas on July 7 and Irving changing his plea during his trial earlier this year.
- The court heard the three have a combined 106 previous convictions, and Mr Justice Paul McDermott is due to hand down sentence on Thursday.