Pensioner suffered injuries similar to 'head-on crash' during alleged break-in, witness to tell trial, trial hears

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10-07-2025

A pensioner sustained injuries during an alleged break-in at his rural Sligo home that were similar to those from a "head-on crash", a witness will tell a Central Criminal Court jury.
The trial also heard on Thursday that gardaí discovered a glove containing both the blood of pensioner Tom Niland and DNA that matched that of the man accused of his unlawful killing.
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Prosecutor Tony McGillicuddy SC today opened the trial of John Irving, who denies breaking into the then 73-year-old Mr Niland's home in January 2022 with two other men and assaulting him, causing his death.
Mr McGillicuddy told the jury that following the assault on Mr Niland, a kayaker at a nearby lake found a wallet containing the pensioner's identification.
When gardaí searched the area, they found gloves. Forensic scientists discovered DNA in one of the gloves that matched two men who the prosecution say carried out the assault with Mr Irving - John Clarke and Francis Harman. DNA from blood on the outside of that glove matched Mr Niland, counsel said.
Mr McGillicuddy said another glove found at the same location contained Mr Irving's DNA inside and Mr Niland's blood on the outside.
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Mr McGillicuddy said it is the State's case that Mr Irving (31) of Shanwar, Foxford, Co Mayo broke into Mr Niland's house along with Francis Harman (58) of Nephin Court, Killala Road, Ballina, Co Mayo and John Clarke (37) of Carrowkelly, Ballina.
He said they assaulted Mr Niland, leaving him with injuries that resulted in him going into intensive care. He died a little over 20 months later, counsel said.
Mr McGillicuddy said Mr Niland did not die as a 75-year-old man through natural causes but from complications due to blunt force trauma to his head as a result of a "serious, sustained, prolonged assault perpetrated on him in his own house in rural County Sligo."
He said it is the prosecution's case that Mr Irving was one of three men who broke into Mr Niland's home that night, assaulted him and left him there.
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Mr Irving faces four charges in total. It is alleged that he unlawfully killed Mr Niland on September 30th, 2023, having assaulted him on January 18th, 2022, at Mr Niland's home at Doonflynn, Skreen, Co Sligo.
It is further alleged that on January 18th, 2022, at Doonflynn, Mr Irving entered Mr Niland's home as a trespasser and caused him serious harm. He is further alleged to have intentionally or recklessly caused serious harm to Mr Niland and to have falsely imprisoned him.
Mr Irving pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
Mr McGillicuddy told the jury that on the day of the alleged break-in, people in Ireland were still wearing masks in the "midst of another Covid lockdown".
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Mr Niland lived alone at Doonflynn, by the N59 between Sligo and Ballina, near Sligo Bay. Looking out from his house, he could see the hills of Donegal, Mr McGillicuddy said.
Between 6pm and 7pm, the prosecution alleges that Mr Irving, Mr Harman and Mr Clarke broke through Mr Niland's door, assaulted him and left.
Shortly after 7pm, Mr Niland was able to get up and went to the home of a neighbour living across the N59.
The neighbour called gardaí and an ambulance, and Mr Niland was taken to hospital where he was found to have significant swelling to the face and head and bruising to the right side of his body.
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A CT scan showed he had intercranial bleeding, a fracture to one eye socket, multiple rib fractures on the right side and blood in his chest.
On January 26th, his condition deteriorated, and doctors sent him to the intensive care unit, where he was put on life support and a ventilator.
Mr McGillicuddy said doctors will tell the trial that Mr Niland suffered serious and life-threatening injuries on January 18th. One will say that the injuries sustained were similar to what you would see in a head-on crash or if a person had fallen from a ladder.
Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers will say that the cause of death was complications due to blunt force trauma to the head as a result of the initial assault more than 20 months earlier.
Four days after the alleged assault, some distance over the mountains between Mr Niland's home and Ballina, a kayaker found a wallet containing Mr Niland's identification.
When gardaí discovered the gloves nearby, they worked backwards from that location, said Mr McGillicuddy. From CCTV, they identified a white Vauxhall Vivaro van that had been moving around the area before and after Mr Niland suffered his injuries.
In the early afternoon, Mr McGillicuddy said fuel was put into the van at Casey's Garage in Ballina. The occupants of the van told the shop owner they weren't able to pay, but would come back later.
The same van was later seen near Mr Niland's home, and a garda will say that he can identify Mr Irving from CCTV footage as one of the three occupants.
At about 6pm, CCTV from an agri-store near Mr Niland's home shows the same van doing a u-turn before making the "last step of a journey to Mr Niland's house", counsel said.
Between 6pm and 6.50pm, Mr McGillicuddy said, the three men entered Mr Niland's house and assaulted him so they could rob him. That is proven, he said, by them taking Mr Niland's wallet.
The van did not drive back to Ballina along the N59 but instead, Mr McGillicuddy said: "It took a local boirín into the mountains, through the wilderness of Sligo and north Mayo to reach Ballina by a different route."
Along the way, Mr McGillicuddy said, they discarded the gloves, Mr Niland's wallet and other items, before returning to Casey's Garage.
Mr McGillicuddy said that to prove the trespass charge, the prosecution must show that Mr Irving entered Mr Niland's home without permission and that while there, he caused serious harm to Mr Niland.
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Serious harm, he said, is an injury which creates a substantial risk of death, serious disfigurement, loss or impairment of mobility or impairment of the function of any part of the body.
For false imprisonment, he said, the prosecution must prove that Mr Irving detained Mr Niland without his consent.
The manslaughter charge arises, he said, because it is the State's case that Mr Irving assaulted Mr Niland and caused his death.
The trial continues next Monday before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of eight women and four men.