Murder trial: sister watched Clondalkin man fatally struck by machete at 5am
The trial of Christopher Kelly (41), accused of murdering Joseph McEvoy (34) in Clondalkin on July 7, 2025, heard harrowing testimony from the victim's sister.
Sister testifies at Dublin murder trial: 'Blood was pouring from everywhere'
The sister of a man who died from a machete wound to his head has told a Dublin murder trial how she watched the accused approach her brother in the early hours of the morning before she realised he had been struck.
According to Dublin Live, Leanne McEvoy described the moment from her bedroom window at around 5am on 7 July 2025, when a convoy of vehicles pulled up at Shancastle Close, Clondalkin — the west Dublin estate where she lived next door to her brother Joseph McEvoy, his partner and their two children.
Convoy of cars, men with machetes
Ms McEvoy told the Central Criminal Court she was awake with her bedroom windows open when she heard cars speeding in the direction of her home. When she opened the curtains, she saw "a load of men" outside — a white pickup truck parked at the end of the driveway and three other cars.
She said she got "an awful fright" as the men stepped out of their vehicles. She identified the accused, Christopher Kelly (41), of Shancastle Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, as the man who jumped from the white pickup truck and ran into her garden. "He was in a rage and had a machete in his hand," she said. "I knew it was a machete — and a long machete."
Ms McEvoy said Kelly shouted up at her: "Yous burnt my house." She attempted to tell him her household had nothing to do with any arson attack, but said he was not listening. "He was roaring and shouting and full of anger and rage," she told the court.
A second man, she said, also carried a machete and struck the back window of her car with it. Ms McEvoy went downstairs to check the four locks on her front door.
'I knew he was badly hurt'
When Kelly left her garden, Ms McEvoy opened the front door and saw her brother Joseph standing at the end of his garden without a top on, looking "baffled" at the commotion. "He obviously heard me screaming and doors slamming and ran out," she said.
She told the court she watched Kelly move in the direction of her brother. Before she turned away, Joseph was standing there and the accused was approaching him. When she turned back, her brother was holding the left side of his face in shock.
"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 said she then saw Kelly jump back into his jeep and speed off.
When asked by prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC whether she had seen her brother carrying anything at any point, the witness replied: "No."
Prosecution: a 'vigilante' act
Opening the trial the previous week, Mr Grehan told jurors that the prosecution's case is that Kelly acted as a "vigilante" in the wake of an arson attack on his Clondalkin home. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions said jurors would hear that the sharp force chop injury severed Joseph McEvoy's jugular vein almost entirely, cutting through it in a wound described as nearly a foot long — an injury deemed incompatible with life.
The prosecution also made clear that there is no suggestion Joseph McEvoy had any involvement in the arson attack on Kelly's home. The prosecution maintains the correct verdict is one of murder.
Christopher Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Joseph McEvoy (34) at Shancastle Close on 7 July 2025.
Defence: slash hook dispute
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Giollaiosa Ó Lideadha SC, Ms McEvoy was asked whether she had seen her brother run out of his house with "a very big slash hook" and approach the accused. She said she had not.
Counsel put it to the witness that it was possible she had caught a glimpse of this from the corner of her eye, which was why she had turned away. Ms McEvoy denied this, saying she knew what she had seen.
Mr Ó Lideadha also suggested to the witness that his client had not been carrying a machete when he got out of his vehicle that morning and had simply been shouting up at her. The witness said this was not the case.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of four men and eight women.
Source: Dublin Live