The Albany Gazette - Sister recounts fatal machete attack as Irish murder trial continues

Christopher Kelly (41), with an address at Shancastle Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 has pleaded not guilty to murdering Joseph McEvoy (34) at nearby Shancastle Close on July 7, 2025 A woman has told the trial of a man accused of inflicting a fatal machete wound to her brother's head of the moment she realised the deceased had been "smacked" on the side of the face after the defendant went in his direction. "I knew it wasn't good because the blood was everywhere," she said.

Under cross-examination, the witness denied seeing her brother Joseph McEvoy run out of his house in west Dublin with a slash hook and approach the accused man. Opening the trial last week, Brendan Grehan SC said it was the prosecution's case that the accused Christopher Kelly acted like a "vigilante" following an arson attack on his Clondalkin home when he inflicted an almost foot-long machete wound on his neighbour's head.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions told the jurors they would hear that the sharp force chop injury completely cut through Joseph McEvoy's jugular vein and was deemed incompatible with life. Counsel also said there was no suggestion that Mr McEvoy was involved in the arson attack on the defendant's home. The barrister said the prosecution maintained that the correct verdict will be one of murder against the accused man.

Christopher Kelly (41), with an address at Shancastle Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 has pleaded not guilty to murdering Joseph McEvoy (34) at nearby Shancastle Close on July 7, 2025. Leanne McEvoy told Mr Grehan that she lived next door to her younger brother Joseph McEvoy, his partner and their two children at Shancastle Close.

Ms McEvoy said she was up and in her bedroom with the windows open at around 5am on July 7, when she heard cars speeding and coming in the direction of where she lived. The witness said she saw "a load of men" outside when she opened the curtains in her bedroom. There was a white pickup truck at the end of the driveway and three other cars.

Ms McEvoy said she got "an awful fright" and that the men had gotten out of their vehicles. The witness said she saw the accused Christopher Kelly jump out of his white pickup truck and run into her garden. "He was in a rage and had a machete in his hand".

Ms McEvoy said she was terrified of what the accused had in his hand. "I knew it was a machete - and a long machete". She said that, as she stood in the middle of the window, Christopher Kelly was roaring and shouting up to her: "Yous burnt my house."

The witness said she tried to tell the accused she had not burnt anyone's house and that it was "nothing to do with anyone from this household". She told the accused she didn't know anything about what had happened but that he wasn't listening. "He was roaring and shouting and full of anger and rage".

Ms McEvoy said another man also had a machete in his hand and ran into her garden "smacking" the back window of her car with it. The witness went downstairs to double check that the four locks on her front door were secure.

Ms McEvoy opened her front door when the accused left the garden. She said she was standing in the doorway when she noticed her brother Joseph with no top on standing at the end of his garden. When she went outside, the witness said Joseph was standing there, looking "baffled" as to why these people were at his home and wondering what was going on. "He obviously heard me screaming and doors slamming and ran out".

Ms McEvoy said she saw the accused going in the direction of where her brother was but she didn't hear Joseph speak. The witness said before she turned her back, Joseph was standing there and the accused was coming in his direction.

When she turned back around, it was then that Ms McEvoy realised her brother had been "smacked". She said Joseph was in total shock and stunned as he held the left side of his face. "I knew he was badly hurt, blood was pouring from everywhere. I knew it wasn't good because the blood was everywhere". Ms McEvoy said she saw the accused had jumped into his jeep and sped off.

Asked by Mr Grehan whether she saw her brother "with anything at any stage", the witness replied: "No." In cross-examination, Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, defending, asked the witness whether she had seen Mr McEvoy run out of his house with a "very big slash hook" and approach the accused. She said she hadn't.

"Is it possible you saw a bit of that out of the corner of your eye and that is why you turned away?" asked counsel. The witness denied this and said she knew what she saw. Counsel suggested to Ms McEvoy that his client didn't have a machete with him when he got out of his jeep that morning and had just been shouting up at her. The witness said this wasn't the case.

The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of four men and eight women.

(W.Williams--TAG)