Man found guilty of murder of Adam Muldoon
By Eoin Reynolds
A YOUNG man stormed from the Central Criminal Court on Monday as he was found guilty of murder for stabbing a disabled homeless man 183 times in a Dublin park.
Philip Dunbar (20) was aged 17 when he lured 23-year-old Adam 'Floater' Muldoon into Butler Park in Jobstown Park in Tallaght on June 22 or 23 2018 and attacked him with a fold-up knife.
Adam Muldoon
The defendant's friend told the trial that Dunbar had boasted about the murder and told him he had put Mr Muldoon "out of his misery".
The witness said Dunbar had told him: "Now I know what it's like to be a killer. I know how it feels to be a killer."
Mr Muldoon, who had a pronounced limp and used a Zimmer frame to get around, was found the following morning with extensive wounds including defensive injuries to his hands.
Later that night Dunbar went to a garda station and said he remembered going into the park with Mr Muldoon and leaving some time later.
He said he knew he had stabbed Mr Muldoon but had a “blackout” and had no memory of the actual stabbing. He would also tell gardai and psychiatrists that he was addicted to pills including Benzodiazepines and had been drinking and smoking cannabis before the attack.
His defence argued that he was so intoxicated that he was not able to form the necessary intent for murder. He also said he had been seeing things and hearing voices in his head for months in the lead-up to the attack.
The jury of six men and five women rejected his defence, returning a unanimous guilty verdict after just under three hours of deliberations.
Dunbar immediately stood up to leave court when the verdict was revealed. As members of Mr Muldoon’s family left the court in tears, one of them shouting towards Dunbar:
“Who’s laughing now?” Dunbar replied: “Shut your mouth, you,” as prison officers ushered him into the cell area.
He will be sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder this Friday when members of Mr Muldoon’s family will make a statement to the court.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury and exempted them from further service.
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