Paul Wells says the scene in his Dublin backyard was ‘pure carnage’
In Dublin, a jury has heard the recorded account from accused murderer Paul Wells where he told investigators about the day he killed his friend Kenneth O’Brien.
In 2016, Wells and O’Brien allegedly got into an argument at Wells’ home after disagreeing about O’Brien’s plans to “get rid of” his girlfriend Eimear Dunne. O’Brien allegedly wanted Wells to kill Dunne, but Wells told him that the notion was “crazy.”
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According to The Independent, Wells (50) said he did not want to kill O’Brien (33), but after O’Brien dropped a gun during their argument, Wells “panicked” and used it to shoot O’Brien.
When first interviewed by investigators, Wells denied any involvement in killing O’Brien. He later broke down in tears and told them everything.
"I thought if he got the gun he’d shoot me," Wells said in his taped explanation to investigators.
Wells tearfully recounted how he felt he didn’t know what to do, but that he knew he had to get rid of the body after shooting O’Brien in the head.
In his shed where he had dragged the body, Wells noticed some tools hanging. Among them was a chainsaw which he had borrowed from his friend O’Brien.
“And the hard part for me was that belonged to Ken,” said Wells. “I borrowed it over a year and a half or even longer previous. I never used one in my life. I had borrowed it to try to take out a tree stump that was at the end of my garden on the right-hand side of my garden,” he said.
“Eventually I got it [the chainsaw] started,” Wells said, crying. Wells said he thought the only way to get O’Brien’s body out of his backyard unnoticed would be to in pieces.
“I never thought I’d do that to a human being. I just had an overwhelming sense of trying to survive.”
In his backyard, Wells, over about 17 minutes, dismembered the body of Kenneth O’Brien. He then placed the dismembered body pieces in plastic bags and sheets in the shed. He cleaned the area in hopes of no one discovering his actions.
“God, he was my friend,” said Wells. “Despite everything about him, all the way he was and that, we used to laugh, we were always f**king giggling at stuff, we’d make fun of people it was harmless like. There he was in my f**king backyard. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
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Wells said the scene in his backyard was “pure carnage” and there was a “smell of death all over.”
Later, he disposed of O’Brien’s body pieces in Dublin’s River Liffey and Grand Canal.
“It will live with me for the rest of my life no matter what happens,” said Wells. “I’ll never deal with it.”
Throughout the interview, Wells said he didn’t know what he was doing and insists there was no plan for the actions that occurred.
A day after the killing, Wells met with O’Brien’s girlfriend Eimear Dunne and said he was “convinced I had saved her life” by killing O’Brien.
The murder trial for Paul Wells, who has pleaded not guilty, is still ongoing.
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