“What happened, why are you down there, why are you lying on the ground?”
Margaret Murnane told the Central Criminal Court in Cork that she prayed over her unconscious, bloodied 80-year-old husband after finding him near their garage following a late-night noise. Sean Harding, 32, of Marian Terrace, Tipperary town, is on trial for the murder of Timothy ‘Teddy’ Murnane. Harding denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter stemming from the September 12, 2025, incident at St Michael’s Avenue, Tipperary town.
Finding the Ground
The trial’s second day brought harrowing testimony from Mrs. Murnane regarding the events after 9pm on September 12, 2025. She recounted sitting in the sitting room with her husband when Teddy noted a noise outside and stepped out to investigate. Minutes ticked by before she decided to check on him in the dark.
She nearly tripped over his body near the pedestrian entranceway beside the garage. Finding no response to her questions, she discovered blood at the back of his head and coming from his mouth. Desperate to help, she tried to roll him onto his side while holding him, but he remained entirely unresponsive.
The Wait for Emergency Services
While on the phone with her son Patrick to report what she initially thought was a fall, Mrs. Murnane noticed the side door of the garage was open. The interior light was on, and an unfamiliar black bag sat on the floor. Patrick Murnane rushed to the family home, contacted the emergency services, and found his mother bent over his father.
“I went over immediately and his breathing was very laboured – I spoke to him in a loud voice to try and make contact but there was no response – he was bleeding from the head and at the time I presumed he had fallen,” Patrick Murnane told the jury. He described the wait for the ambulance as feeling like forever, during which time his mother recited prayers.
CCTV Evidence and Pleas
Garda Colin Hanley and Sgt Chris McGrath arrived at the scene at 10.30pm on September 12, 2025, noting the black holdall bag and tools left on the floor. Investigators subsequently recovered CCTV footage from a householder in Marian Terrace. The video captured a man, identified as Harding, walking toward the Murnane home with a black bag at 9.34pm, then running back two minutes later without it.
During his arraignment, Harding pleaded guilty to three burglary charges. These included two burglaries at the home of the late Teddy Murnane on September 11 and 12, 2025, alongside an unrelated burglary on the same evening. Presiding over the case, Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford heard that the trial will resume before the jury and is expected to conclude well in advance of mid-November.
