Wife and Son Testify at Cork Murder Trial Over Tipperary Pensioner's Death

Margaret Murnane told the Central Criminal Court how she found her 80-year-old husband unconscious and bleeding outside their Tipperary home. Seán Harding, 32, denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Family Recount Finding Teddy Murnane Unconscious After Garage Burglary

According to irishexaminer.com, the wife and son of Teddy Murnane took the stand at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Thursday, describing the moment they found the 80-year-old pensioner lying unconscious and bleeding outside his home on St. Michael's Avenue in Tipperary town.

Margaret Murnane told the court she had been in the sitting room while her husband was in the kitchen on the night of September 12, 2025. He went outside after hearing a noise. When she went to check on him shortly afterwards, she found him on the ground in the dark.

"It was dark — I nearly fell over him," she said. "I looked down and he was lying on the ground, with his legs near the garage door. I said, 'What happened, why are you down there, why are you lying on the ground?' but I got no response whatsoever. There was blood at the back of his head and blood out of his mouth."

Mrs Murnane placed her husband in the recovery position on his left side and immediately phoned her son Patrick, telling him to come home and saying she believed Teddy had suffered a bad fall. Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford expressed her sympathies to Mrs Murnane at the conclusion of her evidence, saying: "I am very sorry for your loss."

Son Describes the Scene on Arrival

Patrick Murnane arrived within five to ten minutes of his mother's call. He found her leaning over his father, who remained unconscious on the ground.

"It was dark, around 9.30pm. He was breathing very laboured. There was blood around his head. I tried several times in a loud manner to make any kind of contact but it was in vain," Patrick told the court.

Patrick rang 999, initially assuming his father had fallen. But on closer inspection, he noticed the garage light was on, tools were scattered across the floor of what was ordinarily a very tidy shed, and a black holdall bag lay on the ground that belonged to neither him nor his father.

He informed the emergency call-taker that there may have been a break-in and asked for the gardaí to be called. The ambulance arrived approximately 30 to 40 minutes later; the gardaí came within around ten minutes of the 999 call. Several days after the incident, Patrick returned to the garage and found a number of tools missing, including a strimmer, a sander, drills and angle-grinders.

Under cross-examination by defence senior counsel Dean Kelly, Patrick described his father as reasonably fit for his age. The two had been working together on DIY jobs, including sanding and hanging doors in the house. "He used to go for a walk every day. I wouldn't say he was running around by any means," he said.

CCTV Places Accused at the Scene

Sergeant Chris McGrath was among the first officers to arrive and found a pillow placed under the deceased's head and a blanket over him as he lay on his side. "There was quite a large pool of blood on the path. There was blood in his ear and his nose. His right eye was swollen and purplish red," Sgt McGrath told the court.

Sgt McGrath conducted a scan of the area for CCTV cameras and identified a recording device at a neighbouring property. Footage from that camera showed Seán Harding walking toward the Murnane house carrying a holdall bag. Two minutes later, he was seen running away with no bag in his hand.

Dean Kelly confirmed that the defence accepted it was Mr Harding visible on the footage, noting: "Whatever happened, it occurred within that two minutes."

Paramedic Mark Williams, who attended the scene, said Mr Murnane was lying on his left side and unresponsive. "There was lots of swelling around his eye, blood and vomit around his mouth," Williams told the court.

Accused Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter

Seán Harding, 32, of Marian Terrace, Tipperary Town, denies the charge of murder. He has, however, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Teddy Murnane and admitted three separate charges related to burglary on the same occasion.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and a jury of seven women and five men, and is expected to conclude before 13 November.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)