A former Waldo County man awaiting trial for the gruesome chainsaw murder of an Ireland farmer has been assaulted while behind bars.
That’s according to the Irish Mirror, which says Michael G. Kelley had been in a solitary cell until recently moved to a cell with other inmates.
The paper quoted Kelley’s lawyer as saying he noticed marks on Kelley when he was doing a court-related video teleconference with him.
Kelley reportedly suffered two black eyes from a suspected assault in Cork Prison earlier this week.
“I saw the marks on him today on the video link and I tried to find out something about it,” Pat Mann, his lawyer, was quoted. “I gathered from the prison people that there was some incident involving him and I’m trying to get details of it.”
Kelley was arrested last month, charged with the murder of Mike Gaine, 56, at Carrig, Kenmare, Ireland.
Gaine, a sheep farmer, was allegedly chainsawed to death, dismembered and thrown into a sewage pit.
Kelley, 54, used to live in coastal Waldo County, Maine, just north of Camden, before leaving to seek asylum in Ireland.
He had lived and worked on Gaine’s farm.
Kelley last year told the Mirror he was “absolutely revolted” by what appears to have happened to Gaine and that it was “heartbreaking.”
He said he was upset over Gaine’s apparent killing and denied any involvement.
Claiming persecution in the U.S. Kelley had sought asylum in Ireland.
Irish police last year came to Camden to talk with Kelley’s ex-wife, from whom he had previously unsuccessfully fought in Maine courts for sole custody of their two children.
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By Ted Cohen
