Two Irishmen fly home after being found not guilty of bashing murder
The son of a bashing victim has savaged the public prosecutor’s office after two Irish tradies accused of killing his dad were acquitted. The duo flew home after the not guilty verdict.
NSW
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The son of a bashing victim has savaged the public prosecutor’s office after two men accused of killing his father were acquitted and flew back to Ireland.
The Irish tradies offered to plead guilty to manslaughter over the death of Paul Tavelardis, 66, in Summer Hill in December 2018, but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions knocked the offer back.
On Monday the two men, Nathan Kelly, 23, and Christopher McLaughlin, 25, were found not guilty of murder, released from custody, then flew home, a turn of events that has infuriated Mr Tavelardis’s son Bradley Tavelardis.
“The DPP were confident that a murder charge was more suitable, which is why the trial began, but to have all charges dropped is inconceivable,” Mr Tavelardis told The Daily Telegraph.
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“I have been living in a fog of utter disbelief and bewilderment since the ‘not guilty’ verdict on Monday.
“The bare fact remains that my father, a 66-year-old man who suffered from leukaemia, was beaten by two physically fit men in their early 20s and subsequently died from the related injuries.
“Visiting my dad in the hospital for the last time when he was in a coma, seeing the extent of his injuries and with my siblings, making the necessary decision to turn off his life support was the most harrowing moment of my life.”
The men offered to plead guilty to manslaughter on the basis of excessive self-defence.
Their lawyers argued they were too drunk to form the intention to inflict grievous bodily harm.
Mr Tavelardis said: “It pains me to think that as a society, Australia has decided that if you are drunk you are no longer accountable for your crimes.
“Will this be a precedent for future crimes?”
Both the accused said they were attacked by Paul Tavelardis with a pole after they approached him when he was attempting to break into their ute, an assertion his son rejects.
“My father was not a thief. At the time of his death he had $93 on his person and approximately $90,000 in his bank account. There was no evidence to say that my father had touched the car. There were no identifiable finger prints, no signs of a break in and no reason for my father to begin the act of stealing a car at the age of 66,” he said.
The ODPP had a psychiatric report from St Vincent’s Hospital from 1999 in which Paul Tavelardis talked about setting up fights with people, but still rejected the offers of the Irishmen to plead guilty to manslaughter, which would have inevitably led to prison sentence.
Bradley Tavelardis said his father lived a nomadic lifestyle but was not homeless, which was not made clear to the jury.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman last night asked the ODPP for a summary of the conduct of the case, although he said the decisions had been a matter for the prosecution.
“I fully acknowledge the pain and distress that Paul Tavelardis’ family is no doubt experiencing. No one deserves to die in such a manner,” Mr Speakman said.