Patrick Murphy jailed for life for Joseph Brosnan’s murder

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

Patrick Murphy was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of Joseph Brosnan. The sentencing was reported on 16 December 2024.

Murphy, of no fixed abode, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Brosnan at Abbey Court, Tralee, on 22 May 2022. A jury unanimously convicted him of murder after rejecting the defence case that he was provoked.

The jury heard that Murphy had been drinking with Brosnan and Kamil Lisowski when an insult passed between Lisowski and Murphy. Lisowski slapped Murphy, who was later asked to leave. Murphy returned, apologised and was pushed out of the apartment. He returned again with a kitchen knife and stabbed Brosnan three times.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan argued that Murphy had acted in a rage after being beaten on the ground. He suggested Lisowski and possibly Brosnan had hit Murphy, although Lisowski denied it. The prosecution case was that Murphy had no reason to bring a knife to the apartment and intended to kill or cause serious injury.

Mr Justice Paul Burns imposed the mandatory life sentence. He said Brosnan had been defenceless and unarmed and that Murphy had carried out a vicious and cowardly knife attack. Murphy’s barrister, Elizabeth Murphy, said he wished to express his sincere remorse to Brosnan’s family.