After a month-long trial at Coleraine Londonderry Crown Court, brothers Gary, 25, and Sean, 23, Anderson were convicted of killing the 35-year-old father of five outside their home on Grafton Street. Both were automatically sentenced to life in prison. Their co-accused Michael Dunlop, 21, of Fern Park, was acquitted of Mr Kelly’s murder but found guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm. Dunlop was also acquitted of attempting to drop two knives after the murder. The jury told Judge Philip Babington that all the verdicts, which were taken after just four hours of deliberations, were unanimous. Kelly, who suffered two stab wounds to the chest and one to the abdomen, also had cocaine and ecstasy in his system the night he was killed. One of the knife wounds pierced his aorta causing massive bleeding and his rapid death. Jurors were told during the trial that because of his drug addiction, Mr Kelly’s lifestyle had been chaotic for many years. Minutes before his death, Mr. Kelly was embroiled in a violent confrontation both inside and outside the Anderson family home on Grafton Street. Attorney Liam McCollum told the jury of eight men and four women that after their arrest all three defendants had made “self-serving and cowardly statements to save their skin.” He said that before the incident, Mr. Kelly, along with another man, had entered the Anderson family home “in a reprehensible manner and treated Anderson.” After leaving the house, Kelly was chased by the two brothers and in a quarrel that ensued, he was dragged to the ground and stabbed. Mr McCollum said after the murder as he stood outside their home on Grafton Street: “Sean turned to Gary and said – it was me and not you”. Judge Babington told the Anderson brothers that they had been found guilty of murder by a jury after a trial. “According to the law, there is only one sentence at my disposal and that is life imprisonment. “I am imposing this sentence now,” he said. Judge Babington has ordered the preparation of pre-sentencing reports for the Anderson brothers for a hearing on the bills, when he will set a minimum time to spend in jail before their release is considered. This hearing is expected to take place in the fall. In relation to defendant Dunlop, who spent two years in custody on bail before being released on bail, Judge Babington released him on bail pending sentencing.
