Five men have received life sentences for the brutal murder of Thomas Dooley, who was attacked with bladed weapons while attending a funeral in Rath Cemetery, Tralee, on October 5, 2022. The attack also seriously injured Dooley’s widow, Siobhan.
The men, all related to the victim, were convicted earlier this month. The Central Criminal Court in Cork heard that the murder stemmed from a dispute over a failed marriage proposal by one of the attackers, who had previously been involved with the Dooley family.
Among those sentenced were Thomas Dooley’s younger brother, Patrick Dooley, and a father-son duo, Thomas Dooley senior and Thomas Dooley junior, as well as Michael Dooley and Daniel Dooley, who were cousins of the victim. The judge, Ms. Justice Mary Ellen Ring, condemned the violence as “unspeakable.”
Thomas Dooley junior, then 21, was a teenager at the time of the crime and had been rejected by one of the Dooley daughters. He was also found guilty of assaulting Siobhan Dooley, receiving an additional four and a half years for the assault, to be served concurrently with his life sentence.
A sixth individual, a teenager whose name has not been released, was also convicted of the murder and is scheduled for sentencing in October. Siobhan Dooley described the attack as having a “lasting impact” on her life and emphasized the unjust nature of her husband’s death.
