A man who boasted about having struck his defenceless victim during an assault in Co Waterford that led to the young man’s death has been convicted of murder, reports RTE.
After five hours and eleven minutes of deliberation, the jury, consisting of five women and seven men, reached their unanimous decision regarding Maurice Boland’s second trial for the murder of 26-year-old Cian Gallagher. The first trial, held in April of this year, ended with the jury unable to reach a consensus.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon expressed her gratitude to the jury and excused them from serving for five years. The family of the victim will be given the opportunity to make statements to the court on December 16, before Boland receives a mandatory life sentence, reports RTE.
Boland showed no reaction when the verdict was announced.
The incident occurred in the early hours of November 3, 2022, and Mr. Gallagher succumbed to his injuries in the hospital eight days later.
Boland, 37, from Bridgeview Close in Tallow, Co Waterford, had entered a plea of not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Mr. Gallagher on Barrack Street in the town.
The defense argued that he should be found guilty of unlawful killing rather than murder, claiming there was no proof of intent to kill or inflict serious harm on Mr. Gallagher, reports RTE.
Pathological evidence presented in the trial indicated that Mr. Gallagher died from injuries caused by falling and hitting his head after Boland struck him.
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However, prosecution attorney Bernard Condon SC informed the jury that the victim did not merely “spontaneously fall.” He stated that Boland had been drunkenly threatening earlier in the night to “beat the sh*t out” of a bar patron and “smash his face in,” reports RTE.
Mr. Condon mentioned that CCTV footage depicted Boland waiting at the pub’s entrance when he spotted Mr. Gallagher leaving, unsteady and potentially sick.
Boland “zeroed in” on Mr. Gallagher as if he were “prey,” Mr. Condon remarked. He described how Boland chased his victim down the street before delivering “a haymaker, a very big punch” that knocked Mr. Gallagher down, “and God love him, he didn’t get up.”
The court learned that following the attack, Boland boasted to three young men who arrived on the scene that he had struck Mr. Gallagher “like Conor McGregor in the UFC,” reports RTE.
Later, Boland misled the police, claiming that Mr. Gallagher, who was ten years younger and slimmer than Boland, had swung at him first, yet Mr. Condon stated that the CCTV evidence contradicted this.
“This wasn’t an altercation; it wasn’t a fight, it was a pursuit down the street of a vulnerable young man,” Mr. Condon clarified, reports RTE.
Mr. Condon remarked on the cowardly nature of Boland’s actions, as he did not confront “a fit young man” in the pub but instead targeted “the walking wounded.” He suggested that Boland ceased the attack only after he had knocked out his victim and claimed the punch was part of a process intended to cause serious injury.
During the trial, it was revealed that Mr. Gallagher had been drinking in Tallow since around 7 p.m., while Mr. Boland had consumed alcohol in Lismore from 7 p.m. until about 10 p.m. that night. Boland took a bus from Lismore to Tallow around midnight.
The prosecution argued that Mr. Gallagher was walking down the street when he was “set upon” by Boland, who was “determined to cause harm” and would not stop until his victim was subdued and knocked out, reports RTE.
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