Man (32) pleads guilty to manslaughter but denies murder of pensioner at home in Tipperary

A 32-year-old man has admitted the manslaughter but denied the murder of a pensioner at his home in Co Tipperary.

Sean Harding, of Marian Terrace in Tipperary town, pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Timothy “Teddy” Murnane (80) at his home at St Michael’s Terrace, Tipperary town, on September 12th, 2025, at the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Wednesday.

Harding also pleaded guilty to two separate counts of burglary at the deceased’s house on September 12th and to a third count of burglary at another house in St Michael’s Terrace, where he admitted stealing a lawnmower and power washer worth €250.

Opening the prosecution case, counsel Karl Finnegan told the jury they would hear evidence that the deceased was at home on the night of September 12th with his wife Margaret when he went out to investigate a noise at his garage at about 9pm.

They would hear evidence from Margaret Murnane that when she went out, she found her husband lying unconscious on the ground. He was breathing but was bleeding from the back of his head and she rang their son, Patrick, who came quickly and rang the emergency services, which arrived on the scene.

He said they would hear from paramedics Martin Williams and Mary Kate Treacy, who treated Timothy Murnane, how he deteriorated in the ambulance on his way to University Hospital Limerick where he died two days later.

They would also hear evidence from Margaret and Patrick Murnane that the door to the garage was open, and the light was on and that it looked like some tools had been taken from the garage, which the deceased and his son used as a workshop and which they kept tidy and neat.

The jury was told they would also hear evidence from the first gardaí on the scene, Sgt Chris McGrath and Garda Colin Hanley, and how gardaí harvested CCTV footage from the area and how Garda technical experts found a palm print belonging to the accused on the garage door.

They would also hear how Det Garda Conor Gleeson arrested Harding at his home in Marian Terrace, Tipperary town, on September 13th and they would hear memos of interview where Harding admitted breaking into the garage to commit a burglary but denied intending to kill Timothy Murnane.

They would hear Harding’s version of events, which was that he heard someone approaching him in the garage and he ran out and pushed against the pensioner, knocking him to the ground. Harding told gardaí that after he heard Timothy Murnane had died, he realised, “I’m after killing someone, I didn’t mean to kill him.”

He told the jury the issue was not whether Harding was responsible for elderly man’s death as he had admitted killing him, but the issue was intent, which could be formed on the spur of the moment. They had to decide whether Harding intended to kill the Timothy Murnane or cause him serious injury.

Finnegan said the medical evidence from Limerick University Hospital ICU consultant Seosamh Ó Riain, who treated Timothy Murnane and State Pathologist Heidi Okkers, who carried out the postmortem, would be central to whether the State could prove the issue of intent.

The case continues.