This confuses me. Although Richard was deeply affected by Pat-Kilroy’s exhortations, and was therefore deeply ashamed of his actions on the pitch that day, he still posted the footage on the web for his friends to see.

Of course, it is possible to be both proud and ashamed of your behaviour.

We fucking showed that little cunt.

For a short while a rumour circulated to the effect that the CBC boy got what he deserved because, in the first minute of the second half, he had made a joke about fucking Richard’s mother. Richard always insisted that this wasn’t the case. He insisted that he had merely been retaliating for the dirty tackle in the first half. And people accepted what he said.

My point is this: everyone forgave Richard for his loss of temper on the pitch. Some of us disapproved of it. Some of us thought it was cool. But everyone forgave it. There was never any question about that.

15

This fall, Conor’s fall. People have talked about this over and over again. Could the fall alone have killed him? Could the damage done when his head struck the pavement have been the moment of irreversible damage, the moment when Richard and Stephen and Barry stopped being people and started being killers, or victims of a violent drink-culture, or spoilt thugs with no idea of the consequences of their actions? Were the kicks irrelevant? Was Conor already dead?

This is just one more thing I can’t answer. If anything, these questions leave us with still more questions. If Conor fell, who was responsible? Who knocked him down? Was he floored by a massive punch from Stephen O’Brien or Barry Fox? Did he hug himself to shelter from the blows and lose his balance? Did he throw himself at the ground to keep himself from the fists of his attackers?

The state pathologist’s report isn’t helpful here. According to the report, no evidence could be found that would help to reconstruct the exact course of the fight. All we’re left with is a series of conflicting eyewitness accounts.

Most fights, especially if the people involved are drunk, tend to be over in a few seconds. According to the DPP, the best evidence they could put together indicated that six to ten people punched and kicked Conor Harris for almost a minute.

Six to ten.

There are maybe seven people still out there who were involved in the fight that killed Conor. The guards could only manage to identify three of the assailants.

Richard was identified by a taxi driver.

Stephen and Barry were identified by several different people who claimed that they saw Stephen and Barry throw most of the punches.

Most of the witnesses who testified at the trial couldn’t remember seeing Laura Haines stumble against a parked car as she backed away from the fight. But one man did see it happen. This is because the car she stumbled against was an idling taxi, and the driver was sitting at the wheel.