Life sentence for Alex Deady over golf club murder of Cork postman Barry Daly

Alex Deady has received a mandatory life sentence for the murder of Barry Daly, a father of five beaten to death outside his Doneraile home in October 2024.

Doneraile murder: Deady jailed for life over fatal golf club attack on postman

Google News IE — Crime (en) reports that Alex Deady has been handed a mandatory life sentence at the Central Criminal Court in Cork for the murder of Barry Daly, a 44-year-old father of five who was beaten to death outside his home at Rockview Terrace in Doneraile in the early hours of Sunday 12 October last year.

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford imposed the sentence on Deady, of Glen View, Convent Road, Doneraile, and noted that his attack on Mr Daly was "not very prolonged but were brutal". A teenage co-accused, who cannot be named due to his age, is due to be sentenced later this month.

Mr Daly died from catastrophic head and facial injuries inflicted with a golf club. A jury had previously heard that a row erupted at a GAA celebration after Mr Daly had either accidentally or intentionally struck Deady's girlfriend. Deady and two teenage boys subsequently armed themselves with golf clubs and followed the postman to his home.

Mr Daly's partner testified that she was in bed when she heard a voice outside shouting "I'm going to kill you." When she went outside, she found him lying on the ground.

"There was blood everywhere. I checked for a pulse. I knew he was dead. I was screaming at my mother to ring an ambulance. Blood was coming out of his ears, his mouth, his nose, blood everywhere. The back of his head was smashed," she said.

Justice Lankford said the case has affected the local community and changed Doneraile forever, RTÉ reported. Drawing on victim impact statements, she described Mr Daly, who worked as a postman, as an exceptional person who regularly showed kindness to elderly residents on his round — noting many examples "over his short life".

In her victim impact statement, Katie O'Reilly said she and Barry Daly had been together for twenty years and had "never left each other's side". She described how Father's Day is now marked by bringing the couple's children to their father's grave with balloons.

"Barry has already missed so much. He missed Bodhi's first day of preschool. He will miss school achievements, graduations, first cars, first jobs, weddings and grandchildren. Bodhi was only three years old when his father died. He still runs to the door when it knocks shouting for his daddy," Ms O'Reilly said.

She added that Mr Daly had often spoken about grandchildren and joked that after having all boys, he deserved some granddaughters.

Deady, in a statement to the court, said he had never intended to kill Mr Daly and that he understood the consequences of his actions for the Daly children.

"I think about it daily and will for the rest of my life. I understand 'sorry' will never bring Barry Daly back," he said.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)