Trinity College Dublin remains undecided on a lecturer’s return after he was cleared of murder in a recent trial
Dublin: So, there’s this lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, Diarmuid Rossa Phelan, who just got cleared of murder. But the college is saying it’s too early to say if he can come back to work.
Last week, a jury found him not guilty of killing Keith Conlon, who he shot on his property in South Dublin back in February 2022. The jury agreed that Phelan was just defending himself when things got out of hand.
He was actually supposed to teach that day, and he’s been with Trinity since 1994, focusing on EU and Competition Law. But when asked if he could return to his teaching role, the college spokesperson just said it’s premature to comment.
Phelan had been teaching three days a week and was using his salary to pay for his mother’s home care, which is pretty costly. The trial revealed that the incident happened when Phelan found some guys trespassing on his land, doing something illegal with badger baiting.
He got worried when a dog was running towards his sheep and ended up shooting it. That’s when the three men came out of the woods, and things escalated quickly. Phelan said he was scared and felt threatened, so he fired shots to protect himself.
Sadly, Conlon was critically injured and passed away two days later in the hospital. Phelan’s defense argued that the shooting was an accident, caused by a mix of stress and movement during the incident.
It’s a tough situation, and the college is still figuring out what to do next. We’ll have to wait and see how this all unfolds.
