DPP accepts Zoltan Almasi’s manslaughter plea over Joseph Dunne killing

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Director of Public Prosecutions accepted Zoltan Almasi’s guilty plea to the manslaughter of Joseph Dunne. Almasi pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to manslaughter.

The proceedings were reported on 16 July 2021. Dunne, aged 20, was killed at Harbour View in Naas on 16 May 2014.

Almasi’s murder conviction after his first trial was quashed by the Supreme Court. His second trial ended in a jury disagreement, and his third ended on 1 July 2021 with the jury again unable to agree a verdict.

Caroline Biggs, senior counsel for the DPP, told the court that the manslaughter plea was acceptable to the State. Judge Michael White remanded Almasi in custody until 3 September for a sentence hearing and ordered reports from his prison governor, chaplain and a prison psychologist.

The trial heard that Almasi chased Dunne with a baseball bat after hearing banging on his van. CCTV showed Almasi raising the bat before both men disappeared from view. Almasi testified that he did not realise he had struck Dunne until he later saw an ambulance and Garda car; he said he had gone out to defend himself and his van and to chase the youths away.

A pathologist said Dunne died from a severe head injury caused by a single blow. Almasi’s barrister, Barra McGrory, argued that the force used could indicate a loss of control following an attack on the van. Biggs argued that Dunne was retreating and posed no threat, and that Almasi struck him in anger rather than through a complete loss of self-control.