The jury needed just over three hours of deliberations before returning the unanimous guilty verdict against Joseph Joyce. Mr McDonagh, 18, suffered a fatal lower leg injury during a street fight outside the home of 32-year-old Joyce in Enniskillen in April 2020. In a three-week trial, a panel of eight men and four women were presented with CCTV footage that immortalized the fatal wound inflicted on Mr McDonagh. In the CCTV footage, Joyce appeared to be standing on the street outside his home. Featuring a hook perpendicular to one hand and a plastic bottle filled with ammonia in the other, the video captured Joyce engaging in what the Crown described as a “street fight” against brothers Gerard, John and Jimmy McDonagh. The video also captured Joyce giving the deadly blow to the back of the victim’s left leg. Despite receiving medical treatment at both the scene and the Southwest Acid Hospital, the teenager died on the morning of April 13, 2020. Since his arrest, Joyce has claimed that he acted in self-defense and protected himself, his family and his home at Coolcullen Meadow from attack by the three brothers, who were armed with a knife, bottle and garden shovel. However, the court rejected Joyce’s allegations of self-defense and found him guilty of murder. The father of three, heading to Clon Elagh in Derry, was also unanimously found guilty of injuring Gerard McDonagh during the same incident, possessing two assault rifles – namely a cutting hook and an ammonia bottle – and category of clash challenge. Before the jurors could return their verdict, Joyce was crucified on the dock at Dungannon Crown Court in Belfast and sentenced to life in prison. Justice Rooney thanked the 12 members of the jury for their service, then turned to Joyce and said: “The only sentence I can give you is life imprisonment, so we will come back and deal with the Tariff later. “You will be notified when it will be done and your guarantee will be revoked, obviously.” As her husband was driven from the dock and taken to prison by prison staff, Ellen Joyce fell to her knees, began to scream, and said, “Joe did not mean that to me. It was not meant to happen. God knows that. My children and I need him. We need Joe. “ Joyce will be convicted later. To receive the latest news directly in your inbox, subscribe to our free newsletter.
