This article chronicles 239 violent deaths of women in Ireland since 1996 — a particularly gruesome year for “femicide”, with 19 killings of women.

That terrible toll prompted Women’s Aid to initiate the Stolen Lives project, and it has shared its research with The Irish Times for this article, written by Jennifer O’Connell, Brian Hutton and Adesewa Awobadejo.

In cases where criminal trials are pending we have not given names or details of deaths. This is to comply with legal rules prohibiting publication of material that could prejudice court proceedings.

This should not be considered a finished project and may be added to as more information becomes available.

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Readers may find some of the details upsetting.

1996

Marilyn Rynn

Died, aged 41, on December 22nd, 1995

Independent, sporty and sociable Marilyn Rynn, a civil servant at the Department of the Environment with a wide circle of friends, went missing after she got a Nitelink bus home from her office Christmas party on December 22nd, 1995. It wasn’t until January 6th, 1996, that her naked body was discovered in Tolka Valley Park, in north Dublin. David Lawler, a local father of one with no previous history of violence, would say later that he raped and strangled her “on spontaneous impulse”. He was the first murderer in the history of the State to be convicted on the basis of DNA. He received a life sentence. You can read more here. Jennifer O’Connell

Joyce Quinn

Died, aged 44, on January 23rd, 1996

Mother of three Joyce Quinn – “a woman with a broad, warm smile for everyone” – offered her regular customer Kenneth O’Reilly a lift as she drove home from her sweet shop in Milltown, Co Kildare, on a January evening in 1996. He stabbed and raped her, dumping her body at the Curragh. He pleaded guilty to her murder but was never charged with sexual assault, because it could not be determined if she was alive or dead at the time of the rape. “Joyce was as perfect as you can get in the world,” her grieving husband, Cmdt Ray Quinn, says. O’Reilly’s latest application for parole is due to be heard in 2022. You can read more here and here. JO’C

[ Stolen Lives: ‘I said, ‘Where’s your mum? She should have been home.’ Ray Quinn recalls a terrible day ]

Mary Molumby

Died, aged 86, on March 8th, 1996

Mary Molumby died after she was attacked with a lump hammer by her 24-year-old grandson, Declan Molumby, who told the Garda he “just freaked out”. He was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia and found guilty but insane. Two men at the house in Thurles at the time were also injured. You can read more here. JO’C

Sandra Tobin

Died, aged 36, on March 15th, 1996

The body of Sandra Tobin was found in her home in Waterford city after a neighbour noticed a broken window. She was the mother of a seven-year-old child, Jennifer. A former friend, 30-year-old Anthony Butler, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life. You can read more here. JO’C

Noeleen Cawley

Died, aged 39, on April 2nd, 1996

Five children, aged between two and 17, were taken into care after their mother, Noeleen Cawley, was stabbed by their father, Michael Cawley. Three of the children witnessed the stabbing at their home, in Sligo. Noeleen had often threatened to get a barring order against Cawley but never did. He subsequently took his own life. You can read more here. JO’C

Alison White

Died, aged 13, on April 14th, 1996

Alison White, a schoolgirl, was found dead with horrific head injuries in scrubland near her home, in Bundoran, Co Donegal. Her neighbour Patrick Granaghan invited her for a walk and attempted to rape her, but she bravely fought him off. He strangled her and bludgeoned her with a large stone. It was a premeditated attack – he had been inviting young people to his home for months. They regarded him as an “Irish Forrest Gump”. “He preyed on children’s innocence,” Alison’s father, Tommy, said as Granaghan was convicted of her murder. JO’C

Anne-Marie Duffin

Died, aged 39, on April 15th, 1996

Anne-Marie Duffin, a well-liked Dutch national who worked at a health shop, restaurant and creches in the Tralee area, was stabbed 66 times in broad daylight, in her home in Blennerville, by a 15-year-old boy from the area. Her two teenage sons, Kevin and Timothy, then aged 15 and 13-years-old, discovered her body in the hall when they came home from school. The killer, a friend of the elder of her sons, told the Garda she “did not like him”. The boy was 17-years-old when he was convicted and given a life sentence. After the verdict the Duffin family said they would pray for him. Tragically, Anne-Marie’s son Kevin Duffin died by suicide in 2008. You can read more here, here and here. JO’C

Martina Halligan

Died, aged 33, on May 5th, 1996

Martina Halligan collapsed outside a neighbour’s house in Darndale, in north Dublin, after her estranged husband, Michael Halligan, stabbed her seven times. She had a barring order against him. He had returned from England and turned up at the house, where he proceeded to cut the telephone wire before attacking her. He was jailed for life. You can read more here. JO’C

Patti Bainbridge

Died, aged 61, on May 6th, 1996

“Loving, tender” Patti Bainbridge, a mother of three, was found shot dead in her home near Mountrath, in Co Laois. Her psychiatrically ill son, Nigel, who was 29, shot her with his father’s legally held shotgun. He was found guilty but insane. You can read more here. JO’C

Angela Collins

Died, aged 49, on May 7th, 1996

Angela Collins was a very outgoing person who changed after her marriage to Patrick Joseph Collins, whom she met through an Ireland’s Own lonely-hearts ad. She had been married for only eight months when she confided in her sister that there were problems in the relationship. Just a few days later he strangled her. PJ Collins, whom the judge described as “a danger to life” and who had a string of other convictions, was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for nine years. JO’C

Patricia Murphy

Died, aged 33, on May 28th, 1996

Patricia Murphy’s body was found beside a skip in Glasnevin, near her home in north Dublin. She had been strangled. Her husband was convicted of her murder in December 1998, primarily on the basis of heartbreaking video-link testimony by three of their four small children, who had seen their mother’s body in the garage of the family home. One little boy, five at the time of giving evidence, testified to having seen “Daddy hammering Mammy”. Patricia’s mother, Brigid Behan, said she had beautiful memories of Patricia “which will live with me until the day I die”. You can read more here. JO’C

Veronica Guerin

Died, aged 37, on June 26th, 1996

The respected Sunday Independent crime journalist was fatally shot six times as she waited at the Newlands Cross traffic lights on Naas Road in west Dublin. She had previously been shot in the leg, assaulted, threatened, intimidated and had shots fired at the house she shared with her husband and young son, as a result of her reporting on the activities of criminal gangs. More than 200 arrests and 39 convictions arose from the investigation into her death, which was described by Bertie Ahern, who would become taoiseach the following year, as an attack on democracy. Paul Ward, a 32-year-old, was found guilty of her murder in November 1998, but this was overturned on appeal. John Gilligan was tried and acquitted. To this day the only person behind bars for her murder is Brian Meehan. JO’C

Maura McKinney

Died, aged 58, on August 5th or 6th, 1996

“Lovely, bubbly” Maura McKinney’s five adult children pleaded with a judge not to jail their father, Michael McKinney, after he admitted killing their mother with caustic soda, causing burns to 35 per cent of her body. Suspending the last five years of his eight-year sentence, Justice Carney referred to the children’s letter, the couple’s history of alcoholism and McKinney’s previous good character. You can read more here. JO’C

Hannah (Margaret) O’Sullivan

Died, aged 40, on August 18th, 1996

Hannah O’Sullivan was discovered in a pool of blood by her 12-year-old son on the day of her 40th birthday at her home in Tralee, in Co Kerry. She had been stabbed 99 times by a 35-year-old local man, John O’Mahony, whom she had previously accused of rape, withdrawing the allegation a week before the trial. O’Mahony, who admitted manslaughter but denied intent, claimed she had threatened to revive the rape claim. He later lost his appeal against the murder conviction. You can read more here. JO’C

Fiona Pender

Last seen, aged 25, on August 23rd, 1996

Vivacious, caring Fiona Pender had returned from London a few months earlier to live in Tullamore, in Co Offaly, when she disappeared from home. She was seven months pregnant. She was last seen early in the morning of August 23rd, 1996, at her flat on Church Street in the town. Afterwards, friends recalled that she had just wanted a secure home for herself and her baby. Last year, on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, the Garda issued a renewed appeal for information. JO’C

Janet Mooney

Died, aged 29, between September 17th and 19th, 1996

Janet Mooney was murdered by her 33-year-old boyfriend, Laurence Callaghan, in a row over a lump of cannabis worth £5. “I kicked a lovely girl to death,” he told the Garda. “When I woke up the following morning I had sex with her. It was only after I had sex with her that I realised she was dead.” He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January 2000 and was jailed for four years. In 2016 Callaghan was struck by a truck and died. JO’C

Geraldine Diver

Died, aged 42, on December 2nd, 1996

Geraldine Diver was found dead from strangulation in her car near a construction site in Clondalkin, in west Dublin. A decade later her husband, John Diver, was acquitted at the Central Criminal Court of her murder, following a decision by the Supreme Court to order a retrial because the Garda had failed to comply with regulations governing the treatment of people in custody. John Diver always maintained his innocence. He was embraced by his children as the verdict was announced. The case is now closed, and nobody else is being sought in connection with Geraldine’s death. JO’C

Sophie Toscan du Plantier

Died, aged 39, on December 22nd, 1996

The French documentary maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier was battered to death in west Cork in the days before Christmas 1996. Ian Bailey, who has always maintained his innocence, was found guilty in France of her murder in absentia. Several people who gave Garda statements at the time have recently been reinterviewed. JO’C

Belinda Pereira

Died, aged 27, on December 29th, 1996

A week after the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, which continues to attract international media coverage, podcasts and documentary series, another visitor to Ireland died of head injuries in circumstances that remain unexplained. Belinda Pereira, a Sri Lankan national, was found dead in an apartment on Liffey Street in Dublin city centre. She had arrived in Ireland on Christmas Eve to work in the sex trade, and planned to return to London on New Year’s Day. Despite numerous Garda appeals, nobody has been charged with her murder. JO’C

[ The Irish Times view on violence against women: the everyday epidemic ]

1997

Miriam O’Donoghue

Died, aged 42, between January 25th and 27th, 1997

Miriam O’Donoghue was found dead at home in Mulhuddart, in north Dublin, by her ex-husband after he returned with their her 11-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son from a weekend visit. She was in the bedroom and had been strangled. Her bookmaker former husband, 44-year-old Paul O’Donoghue, who always maintained his innocence, was acquitted of her murder in July 2001. JO’C

Ciara Breen

Last seen, aged 17, on February 13th, 1997

“Shy, trusting” Ciara Breen went missing from her home in Dundalk, in Co Louth, on February 13th. She had left a window on the latch and appeared to have been planning to come home. She never made it. In 2015, the Garda searched Balmer’s Bog, outside the town, but no remains have ever been found. The Garda identified a chief suspect in her disappearance – a man who was 35 at the time – but he died in 2017. JO’C

Mary Callinan and Sylvia Shields

Died, aged 61 and 57, on March 6th, 1997

Mary Callinan and Sylvia Shields, two women “full of goodness, beauty and innocence”, who were patients at St Brendan’s Hospital in Grangegorman, in north Dublin, were found dead in their shared sheltered home. They had been brutally murdered in a savage stabbing attack. Dean Lyons spent nine months in prison for the murders before it emerged he had signed a false statement. In August 1997 Mark Nash made a statement incriminating himself. In 2015, after the uncovering of DNA evidence, Nash was found guilty and sentenced to life. He is also guilty of the murder of Catherine Doyle, whom he murdered in August 1997, along with murdering her husband, Carl. (See entry below.) In May 2020 Nash failed in an application to the European Court of Human Rights to examine his conviction for the Grangegorman murders. You can read more here. JO’C

Bernie Sherry

Died, aged 44, on April 6th, 1997

Bernie Sherry, a mother of three, was shot dead by her ex-partner, Sean Brennan, near Portarlington, Co Laois, after she ended their relationship. The court heard that the father of eight had been “almost stalking her”. He led the Garda to her body near his flat, close to where Fiona Pender had last been seen nine months earlier. Brennan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life. JO’C

Kitty Gubbins

Died, aged 70, on May 2nd, 1997

Kitty Gubbins and her farmer husband, Jimmy, were found lying side by side near the back door of their bungalow in the village of Oola, Co Limerick. She had been shot in the back while she hung out the washing. A shotgun was found nearby. In a suicide note, Jimmy Gubbins wrote that he was depressed. JO’C

Mandy Wong

Died, aged 28, on June 11th, 1997

Mandy Wong was five months pregnant when she was strangled in her bathroom, where she had been getting ready to wash her hair, at the rented house she shared in Walkinstown, in west Dublin. There did not appear to be a sexual or racial motive, or one of robbery, and there was no sign of a break-in at the Malaysian Chinese national’s home. JO’C

Elizabeth (Lily) Troy

Died, aged 60, on July 8th, 1997

Elizabeth Troy was found dead in her home in Limerick on July 8th, 1997. She had been strangled. Her husband, 58-year-old Christopher Noel Troy, was charged with her manslaughter and released on bail. Troy took his own life while on bail in August 1997. JO’C

Margaret Murphy

Died, aged 74, on August 1st, 1997

Margaret Murphy, a well-known newspaper vendor, died of a heart attack from the terror she suffered when she was tied up with an electric flex during a burglary in her home. Two men were convicted of her manslaughter: John Arundel, a professional criminal, and Declan Meehan. Arundel was jailed for 11½ years. Meehan, who changed his plea six days into his trial, got eight years. JO’C

Catherine Doyle

Died, aged 28, on August 16th, 1997

Catherine Doyle and her 29-year-old husband, Carl – “dynamite people … so much in love”, her father would later say – had been together since their teens. They moved from Dublin under the rural-resettlement programme, and were blissfully happy raising their four children, all aged under seven, in the countryside when they were stabbed to death by Mark Nash in a vicious attack in their Roscommon home. As six children slept in the house, Nash stabbed Carl and “laid into” Catherine’s sister and his then girlfriend, Sarah Jane Doyle, with a metal tool. When Catherine tried to protect her sister, Nash savagely beat and stabbed her. Nash was found guilty of the murders of Carl and Catherine and the attempted murder of Sarah Jane in November 1998. You can read more here. JO’C

Sheila McDonagh

Died, aged 26, on September 12th, 1997

Sheila McDonagh’s husband, James McDonagh, forced her into a bending position, took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed her in front of five witnesses outside a house in Dundalk. He claimed in evidence that she had “come back up into the knife” from a horizontal position. The jury did not believe him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. He was refused leave to appeal in 2001. You can read more here. JO’C

Gillian Thornton

Died, aged 20, on October 17th, 1997

Gillian Thornton, a popular, much-loved sister, daughter and friend, left a disco in her native Ballina with a man, telling her two best friends she’d see them later “up town”. She didn’t. The man, 21-year-old Dean Richardson, had sex with her, strangled her and left her semi-naked body in a garden near a laneway. He told the Garda he “just lost the head, I went crazy”. A rape charge was withdrawn when he pleaded guilty to murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Many in the Co Mayo town were upset by the picture painted of Gillian in court, particularly the unchallenged assertion that she had consented to sex. “We were just treated as numbers. We were handed Gillian’s clothes in a box and told to go away,” Gillian’s mother, Angela, later said. JO’C

Mary Cully

Died, aged 54, on November 8th, 1997

Mary and Vincent Cully, a married couple, were shot dead by their neighbour in the Westmeath townland of Turin (also called Tevrin) in a row over pebble-dashing. Forty-three year old Seamus Dunne had been at war with the couple for the eight years he lived near them, complaining several times to the Garda about what might normally be considered minor differences between neighbours. His last complaint before the day he shot them was over bangers at Halloween. He was given two life sentences for the shocking murders, which left the Cullys’ children, aged between 15 and 26, without their parents. Dunne’s wife moved out, and the house they had lived in together was burned down. You can read more here. JO’C

Mary Kelehan

Died, aged 48, on November 10th, 1997

Six times on the day before she was stabbed, Mary Kelehan called the Garda to ask for help. But, her inquest was told, no one came to her. Her body was discovered in the hallway of her Galway home, with stab wounds in her back. The separated mother of four grown-up children was involved in a relationship with Michael O’Donnell, whose body was found in Galway Bay nine days after her death. He had been due to appear in Galway District Court in connection with her death. JO’C

Eileen Costello O’Shaughnessy

Died, aged 47, on November 30th, 1997

Eileen Costello O’Shaughnessy, a taxi driver, was battered to death after she took a routine fare to Claregalway at about 8pm on the night of November 30th. Her taxi was found at midnight that night with visible signs of violence. Her body was found the next day in the townland of Knockdoemore, outside Galway, 200 metres from the main road. She had been assaulted and murdered. Twenty years later another appeal for information was issued, but as yet her killer has not been found. JO’C

1998

Amanda Smyth

Died, aged 26, on January 3rd, 1998

Mandy Smyth was strangled by her ex-partner Niall Gaynor, who subsequently took his own life. Gaynor had been in full-time residential care at Coolmine House in Dublin, a voluntary organisation for the treatment of drug addicts, and discharged himself before arranging to meet Mandy at his family home. You can read more here. JO’C

Fiona Sinnott

Last seen, aged 19, on February 8th, 1998

Fiona Sinnott was last seen leaving a pub near her home in Ballyhitt, in Co Wexford on February 8th, 1998. The mother of an 11-month-old girl, she had been the victim of violent attacks previously. The missing-persons inquiry into her disappearance was upgraded to a murder investigation in 2005. JO’C

Joan McCarthy

Died, aged 47, on April 11th, 1998

Joan McCarthy, a mother of four and grandmother in her 40s, was murdered in her bed while babysitting her granddaughter, but nobody has ever been convicted of her killing. Her daughter Aisling and her daughter’s partner, Brian Farrell, came home at 3am from a night out and found her up and well. By the following morning she was dead. Months later Farrell was arrested and charged with her murder. On the eve of his trial, in July 2002, the director of public prosecutions requested the court enter a nolle prosequi. On July 29th, 2004, a verdict of unlawful killing was returned at an inquest on her murder. JO’C

Georgina O’Donnell

Died, aged 21, on May 2nd, 1998

Georgina O’Donnell was shot in the face in a Limerick nightclub on Saturday, May 2nd, 1998. The mother of a nine-month-old baby was murdered by Mark Cronin, who had pointed the gun at his wife, Angela (Biddy) Collins. In April 2000 he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Georgina’s mother, Vera O’Donnell, has said she forgives her daughter’s killer and prays he comes out of jail a better man. Her son, Jason, who never recovered from his sister’s death, died in tragic circumstances in 2010. JO’C

Sinead Kelly

Died, aged 21, on June 22nd, 1998

Sinead Kelly grew up in Santry, in north Dublin, with a loving family, but from her late teens her life had become blighted by heroin. In the early hours of June 22nd, 1998, she was found dead along the banks of the Grand Canal. She had been stabbed to death – not, as initially reported, because her work as a prostitute made her vulnerable but because of a debt she owed as a small-time dealer. Two months earlier she had been raped and badly beaten, and just 30 minutes before she was killed she spoke to gardaí on patrol in the area about it. A number of people have been arrested in connection with the June 1998 killing, and files were prepared for the director of public prosecutions. JO’C

Deirdre Jacob

Last seen, aged 18, on July 28th, 1998

Deirdre Jacob, a student teacher, was almost home from running errands in Newbridge, in Co Kildare, when she disappeared on a Tuesday afternoon in the summer of 1998. In 2018 the Garda upgraded her disappearance to a murder investigation, following a review by the serious-crime review team and new information. The convicted rapist Larry Murphy has been identified as a “person of interest”, but the latest investigative file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions had not resulted in any charges against him. A three-week search, in October 2021, on the Kildare-Wicklow border yielded no new information, and her family still waits for answers. JO’C

Chantal Bergeron

Died, aged 41, on August 20th, 1998

Chantal Bergeron was shot at close range by her husband, Louis, who then killed himself, in the idyllic Tipperary cottage where they had planned to live out their retirement. Some people in the community later pointed to red flags in the relationship between the former French navy sailor, who was 53, and his younger wife, reporting that she would sometimes flee the cottage in the middle of the night. In August 1998, just hours after they had returned home from a “jovial” night out with friends, he murdered her with a legally held shotgun. Chantal was remembered as a vivacious and gregarious woman whose interests included early-morning jogs, gardening and organic farming. You can read more here. JO’C

Teresa Doherty

Died, aged 50, on September 21st, 1998

Teresa and her 58-year-old retired garda husband, Bill, a “good and kind” and popular couple, were stabbed to death at home on September 21st, 1998, in Monadreen, Co Tipperary. Martin Doherty, the eldest of their three sons, was found guilty but insane. The court heard he was experiencing an intense period of paranoia and was in a psychotic state when he killed his parents. He had suffered from schizophrenia for many years but had been taken off prescribed antipsychotic drugs prior to the killings. JO’C

Christina Hackett

Died, aged 31, on October 9th, 1998

Thirty-one-year-old Tina Hackett died of a single gunshot wound to the head on Friday, October 9th, 1998. The inquest into her death, in 2001, heard evidence from a man with whom she’d been having an affair that she had pointed the gun at her own head. The man received a two-year suspended sentence for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and no further action on the incident was taken by the director of public prosecutions. The jury returned an open verdict in relation to Tina Hackett’s death, and her family called for a review of the case. JO’C

Marie Dillon

Died, aged 72, on November 25th, 1998

A campaigner for elderly people living alone, and a much-loved figure in her community, Marie Dillon was brutally beaten after she disturbed a burglar in November 1998. Her partially clothed and badly beaten body was found in the garage of her home in Finglas, in north Dublin. In May 2001 Richard Kearney, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was given a life sentence. JO’C

Siobhán Hynes

Died, aged 17, on December 6th, 1998

Siobhán Hynes, a schoolgirl, was found dead on Tishmane beach, in Carraroe, Co Galway, a week after her 17th birthday. She had been subjected to section-four rape, her larynx was fractured and her body was dumped in the sea. A local man, 25-year-old John (Demesne) McDonagh – whose anonymity had been protected until he was convicted, and who managed to get many of her family members excluded from court – was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and murder. He appealed the sentence in 2007 but lost. “We will never get Siobhán back,” her heartbroken father said. JO’C

Sheila Lynch

Died, aged 44, on December 19th, 1998

Shelia Lynch, a mother of four, was strangled in her bed in Cootehill, in Co Cavan, on December 19th, 1998, by her 27-year-old son, Anthony Lynch, just a year after the tragic death of another son in his 20s. Anthony was found guilty, but insane, of his mother’s murder. A dog was also found stabbed to death on the property. JO’C

1999

Catherine Hegarty

Died, aged 33, on February 26th, 1999

“Quiet, gentle” Catherine Hegarty was stabbed three times by her boyfriend, 27-year-old Don O’Halloran, at a flat in Cork city. He said she had called him names and provoked him. He pleaded manslaughter but was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. JO’C

Layla Brennan

Died, aged 25, on March 2nd, 1999

When 26-year-old Philip Colgan stopped Layla Brennan on Nassau Street in Dublin in March 1999 to ask directions, she could not have known he was out of prison on early release for the aggravated double rape of a 79-year-old woman and a Spanish student. He knocked Layla unconscious and strangled her before dumping her body in the Dublin Mountains. Layla had been working as a dental receptionist but lost her job when she became addicted to heroin. At the time of her death she was involved in prostitution. Acknowledging her family’s devastation, Mr Justice Paul Butler said he had to “fight back tears” on occasion as a result of the evidence in this case. Philip Colgan was sentenced to life imprisonment. You can read more here. JO’C

Marie Hennessy

Died, aged 31, on May 10th, 1999

Marie Hennessy, a “beautiful, vivacious” nurse, died two days after she was beaten with a car jack by her 37-year-old husband, Patrick Hennessy, on the side of a road as two of their three young daughters, then aged one and three, sat in a nearby car. After several contradictory statements to the Garda, he admitted he “let fly” when she confronted him about his suspension from his job as a manager at Callan labour exchange for embezzlement. The jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to eight years. The court heard that Marie Cleere-Hennessy was not just a sister but also like a mother to her six younger sisters, whom she helped to raise after their mother died in May 1986. JO’C

Bente Carroll

Died, aged 45, on May 26th, 1999

Bente Carroll, who was born in Denmark, was killed at her home by her husband, Joe Kinsella, who denied her murder but admitted attacking her after a two-day drinking spree. He said he killed her because she was “nagging” him. Bente’s friend Vicky Higgins told the trial that Kinsella had choked his wife twice in the days before her death and had threatened to kill her. Joseph Kinsella was cleared of murder by the jury but convicted of manslaughter in March 2001 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. You can read more here. JO’C

Gertrude Dolan

Died, aged 56, between June 16th and 19th, 1999

Gertrude Dolan was stabbed to death at home in East Wall, in Dublin, by her 26-year-old son, John Francis Dolan, who was also found guilty of the manslaughter of his 71-year-old father. He said a row broke out over his job. Their bodies were not discovered until June 28th that year. He was sentenced to life for his mother’s murder and later lost an appeal against his conviction. You can read more here. JO’C

Eileen Coyne, Bridget McFadden and Margaret Concannon

Died, aged 81, 80 and 72, on July 6th, 1999

Sisters Eileen, Bridget and Margaret died in a house fire on the island of Inishbofin, off Co Galway, on July 6th, 1999. Alan Murphy, a 27-year-old hotel worker from Newcastle, Co Down, told the Garda that he walked in the open front door of Eileen Coyne’s house – where her two sisters were visiting from England – and set it alight because he was angry at being thrown out of Day’s pub on the island. He was found guilty of the manslaughter of the three women and of committing arson. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Bridget McFadden’s daughter said the sentence would not restore the lives of three innocent people. The court heard the fire and the deaths of the three women had a profound and continuing effect on the families and the entire community. You can read more here. JO’C

Raonaid Murray

Died, aged 17, on September 4th, 1999

Raonaid Murray, a teenager, left Scott’s pub in Dún Laoghaire, in south Co Dublin, planning to walk home to Glenageary, change her clothes, and rejoin her friends in a nightclub later. But she was stabbed multiple times in a laneway by a person armed with a knife. She managed to walk almost 100 metres towards home before she collapsed and died. Her body was found by her older sister. No motive has ever been established, and there is no prime suspect. Her funeral heard that she wanted to become a writer, that she had plans to repeat her Leaving Certificate and that “all the life, talent and personality” that had been maturing in her had been brutally stolen. A Garda appeal on the anniversary of her death in September 2021 said that extensive lines of inquiry are still being pursued. You can read more here. JO’C

Charlene McAuliffe

Died, aged 19, on October 2nd, 1999

Charlene McAuliffe was murdered in a house in Cork city on October 2nd, 1999. She was beaten with a wok and then choked to death by Gerard Graham, a 35-year-old fisherman. Another man, 27-year-old Alan Graham Clucas, was sentenced to 18 months for his role as an accessory, which involved putting Charlene’s body in the boot of a car. Her remains were dumped in a caravan near Ventry, in Co Kerry. In January 2002, his trial already under way, Graham changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder. JO’C

Catherine Mullins

Died, aged 43, on October 31st, 1999

“We really loved each other. I’m in bits over it,” Francis Cahill, a separated father of 12, told the Garda after he strangled his girlfriend Cathy Mullins in the early hours of Halloween at a flat in Rialto, in Dublin. Her body was found to have 46 older injuries, some of which may have resulted from physical abuse. Mr Justice Carney said Cahill “started his life in Artane and thereafter was living in Fatima Mansions, a disadvantaged background for anyone, I should think”. Cahill was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, with the final 20 months suspended. JO’C

2000

Rachel Sandyman

Died, aged 17, on February 5th, 2000

Rachel Sandyman, a teenage fast-food worker, was on her way to a house party after a disco when she met her killer. Jonathan Kepple, a 19-year-old living in London, walked with her until they came to waste ground near Nutley Road in Mahon, in Cork, where they kissed and had sex, his trial was told. The pair had an argument. Kepple told the Garda: “Rachel hit me. I snapped.” He repeatedly punched Rachel before strangling her until she stopped screaming. After covering her body in a thicket, he took a bus to the city centre, where he played snooker with a friend. A girl playing found her remains. Kepple was sentenced to life in prison a year later. A neighbour of Rachel’s said: “She was just beginning to blossom into a beautiful young lady when she had her life snuffed out by him.” You can read more here. Brian Hutton

Nancy Nolan

Died, aged 81, on February 14th, 2000

Nancy Nolan, a retired national-school teacher, was alone in her home in Ballygar, Co Galway, on St Valentine’s Day when she was bludgeoned to death with a lump hammer. She was a widow. Two days later her body was discovered lying in a pool of blood. Her killer, 37-year-old Thomas Murray, also of Ballygar, was a former pupil. The Garda believed he may have borne a grudge. Nancy’s son and five daughters could not make sense of the murder. Murray was on unsupervised temporary release from Castlerea Prison, where he was serving a sentence for murdering another pensioner, also in Ballygar, in 1981. Then aged 17, he stabbed William Mannion to death. During a previous temporary release he was convicted of indecent exposure in Galway. Murray was jailed for life a second time after pleading guilty to murdering Nancy Nolan. You can read more here. BH

Jennifer Donnan

Died, aged 42, on April 17th, 2000

Jennifer Donnan was strangled by her son in an early-morning row over a cigarette. Damien Donnan, a 20-year-old from De Valera Park, in Limerick, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. An argument broke out between the pair when he went into her bedroom to look for a cigarette, his trial heard. Holding her in a headlock, Donnan snapped his mother’s larynx. After she was dead he woke his nine-year-old brother and told him, “I’m after killing Mam.” Donnan said his mother was an alcoholic and he had been “getting her drink since I was seven. I just had enough. I had enough.” He was given a life sentence for manslaughter, which was suspended on certain conditions. He was ordered to receive psychiatric treatment. Donnan’s sentence was reactivated in 2007 after he broke the terms of his suspension. BH

Maeve Byrne

Died, aged 35, on September 26th, 2000

Maeve Byrne was beaten and stabbed to death by her husband, Stephen Byrne, in her family bungalow in Cuffesgrange, in Co Kilkenny. He then bundled their children, 10-year-old Alan and six-year-old Shane, into a car and drove it off Duncannon pier, in Co Wexford. The boys’ bodies were found off the Hook peninsula. They were found to have alcohol in their blood. Later, Stephen Byrne’s body was found off the coast of Wales. Cuffesgrange’s curate, Fr Martin Delaney, told Maeve Byrne’s funeral she had been “a young woman full of life, who was generous to a fault and spontaneous in her friendships and in everything she did”. The couple had been married for 12 years. You can read more here. BH

Rachel Kiely

Died, aged 22, on October 26th, 2000

Rachel Kiely, a beautician, was raped and killed while walking her dogs in a park in Ballincollig, Co Cork. She was just a few hundred metres from her home. A Jehovah’s Witness, she was due to attend a Bible-reading class that night; she had just returned from working as an au pair in Italy. Ian Horgan, a neighbour who was 16 at the time, was found guilty of her rape and manslaughter. In 2007 he was jailed for 12 years after a previous conviction for murder was deemed unsafe by the Court of Criminal Appeal. His trial heard he picked up his teenage girlfriend from work after the rape and killing. He was released from prison in 2021. BH

Dearbhla Keating

Died, aged 28, on November 19th, 2000

Dearbhla Keating was stabbed in the heart during a row with two men who stayed in a room at her boyfriend’s house in Co Carlow. Her boyfriend, Alan Walsh, was also seriously injured in the attack. In November 2001, 25-year-old Dermot Lennon was convicted of assault and endangerment. The jury failed to agree a verdict on a charge of manslaughter. Dearbhla Keating had moved to Waterford city a number of months beforehand in an attempt to beat her years-long drug problem. She had returned to Carlow to make plans to return there to live. BH

Sandra Collins

Last seen, aged 29, on December 4th, 2000

After buying two bags of chips at a takeaway in the Co Mayo seaside village of Killala, Sandra Collins disappeared. She was pregnant. Her pink fleece jacket was later found on the pier. She was not believed to have been distressed. A search of the sea turned up nothing. Her body was never found. A married man who told the Garda he had been in a relationship with her stood trial in 2014 for her murder. A judge directed the jury to find him not guilty, saying there was insufficient evidence. Sandra was a carer for her aunt. BH

Jean Reilly

Died, aged 34, on December 8th, 2000

Jean Reilly, a nurse and mother of one, was stabbed to death with a steak knife by her ex-partner. Brian Daly, an alcoholic and a chef, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her manslaughter. His trial heard the pair met at a clinic for alcohol addiction. They had a “tumultuous” relationship; Jean had secured a barring order against Daly. Breaking the order after a day’s heavy drinking, he turned up at her home in Laytown, in Co Meath, to collect clothes. After assaulting her friend, Daly then stabbed her through the heart. She stumbled outside and died on the pavement. BH

Jennifer Wilkinson

Died, aged 24, on December 13th, 2000

Jennifer Wilkinson was stabbed to death in the hallway of her home by her ex-boyfriend. Declan Burke, then 27, could not tolerate the mother of one seeing another man, his murder trial heard. Burke waited outside the house, at The Rise, Boden Park, Ballyboden, Dublin, for hours. After forcing his way in, he stabbed Jennifer at the bottom of the stairs. Then he seriously injured her mother, who was looking after her young child. He was given a life sentence for murder and a separate three-year term for that attack. Leaving the scene, he said: “That’s an end to it now.” Burke had been getting psychiatric treatment and had tried to take his own life “around 50 or 60 times”. A psychologist said his past sexual abuse led to post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks and bouts of uncontrollable anger. BH

Susan Prakash

Died, aged 28, on December 16th, 2000

Susan Prakash had sparkling eyes. She was small and delicate. James Conroy, a farm labourer, battered her to death with a wheel brace at a picnic spot in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, in Co Laois, nine days before Christmas. The mother of two young children, aged three and six, died choking on her own blood, which was flowing from serious head wounds, including a broken jaw. Hours after the murder, Conroy walked into a Garda station, still wearing blood-soaked clothes, and confessed. He claimed the pair were lovers and he lost his temper when she asked if he raped young girls. Conroy was previously jailed for six years for sexual assault. “She put up a battle,” Conroy told the Garda. “She begged me to stop. I couldn’t stop.” Conroy was jailed for life. BH

2001

Mary Gough

Died, aged 27, on March 1st, 2001

Mary Gough, a legal secretary, was a good and thoughtful daughter. The only girl in a family of six children, she was strangled by her husband of six months, Colin Whelan. Her body was found at the foot of the stairs in their home on Clonard Street in Balbriggan, in north Co Dublin. It was thought she had fallen down the stairs. Forensic tests showed otherwise. Searches of Whelan’s computer revealed he had looked up “death by strangulation”, “choking” and “smothering” in the days leading up to the killing. Charged with murder, Whelan vanished. His car was found in Howth, on the northern coast of Dublin Bay. It was thought he had taken his own life. But a holidaymaker spotted him working in a bar in Majorca a year later. He had been living a double life under the pseudonym Martin Sweeney and had a girlfriend. A tip-off to the Garda saw him extradited back to Ireland, where he was given a life sentence. BH

Liu Quing

Died, aged 19, between March 12th and 14th, 2001

Liu Quing was in Ireland to learn English. Her family dug deep to finance her studies, raising £15,000. She phoned home and wrote often. She seemed happy. The teenager’s badly charred body and that of her 19-year-old flatmate, Yue Feng, were found in their rented apartment at Blackhall Square in Dublin. A person they considered a friend, Yu Jie, also Chinese, had strangled the pair. The apartment was then set ablaze in a botched attempt to hide his tracks. His trial heard the motive was money. Yue Feng’s father was wealthy. Yu Jie paid off debts after the double murder. CCTV footage put him at the scene of the crime. He was sentenced to life in prison. BH

Debbie Fox

Died, aged 30, on July 28th, 2001

Debbie Fox, a mother of two, had just returned from a having a drink at a local pub in Castledaly, in Co Westmeath, with her husband, Gregory, when he “went mad” and murdered his family. They ran a shop and petrol station. Fox admitted he was jealous and possessive and believed his wife was having an affair. A row broke out when she told him she wanted a break from their relationship. “I loved my wife so much but she didn’t love me, and I just went mad,” he told the Garda. Fox beat his wife with his fists and a hurl. He used a broken beer bottle to slash her throat. He stabbed her several times with a kitchen knife. Then he went to his sons’ bedroom and stabbed nine-year-old Trevor and seven-year-old Cillian repeatedly. Wounds on their hands showed they had struggled to defend themselves. Fox was given three life sentences. BH

Geraldine Kissane

Died, aged 23, on October 8th, 2001

Geraldine Kissane, who worked in an off-licence, had just finished a shift before midnight when she returned to her home in Shannon, in Co Clare. Waiting outside was her ex-boyfriend, 32-year-old Mark Sims. She had ended the relationship months before. His ongoing obsession with her led to solicitor’s letters. The separated father of three was warned to stop harassing her to avoid court action. In front of her sister, with whom she shared the house, Sims dragged Geraldine down an alley and on to open ground, where he shot her twice. Then he killed himself. Three hours earlier, Sims had been looking after his children and was said to be “in good form” as he had a cup of tea with his estranged wife. BH

Margaret Fahy

Died, aged 78, on September 10th, 2001

Margaret Fahy, a grandmother, lay on the floor of her home in Ballindooley, in Co Galway, with a walking stick protruding from a wound in her neck. She had extensive head injuries. Her back was broken. A fingertip was severed and her chest was crushed. There was blood on the walls, floor and ceiling. Next to her, asleep on the couch, was her 40-year-old son, Seán Fahy. Paranoid and delusional, the father of five had been released from St Brigid’s psychiatric hospital, in Ballinasloe, just five weeks beforehand. After drinking heavily, he confronted his mother, believing she was trying to poison him. He slept the night after savagely murdering her and decided in the morning to take an overdose. A brother found them both. Fahy survived and went on to tell the Gardaí “I’m sorry for the trouble I have caused. I loved that woman.” At his murder trial a jury took 10 minutes to find Fahy guilty but insane. BH

Lynda Dunne

Died, aged 24, on September 18th, 2001

Lynda Dunne was a nice, friendly girl, very chatty and outgoing, a neighbour in Ballymun, in north Dublin, said. The young mother was knifed to death in her flat by her ex-boyfriend Liam Wells. The pair had rowed about access to their 18-month-old daughter. During the frenzied stabbing, Wells, a 37-year-old scaffolder, kissed Dunne as she lay dying on the couch. Then he placed a photograph of him and their baby in her hands. Wells had left the flat two months earlier to live with another woman. He told the Garda he was worried Dunne was not looking after their child. He “flipped” when she told him he would not see their daughter, he said. Wells then left the blood-soaked scene with a knife, intending to kill Lynda’s mother, who lived nearby. He was jailed for life, and was handed separate sentences for assaulting Lynda Dunne’s mother and her partner. BH

Bettina Poeschel

Died, aged 28, on September 25th, 2001

Bettina Poeschel, a German journalist, was on the final day of her holiday in Ireland when she went to visit Newgrange, the Stone Age monument in Co Meath. Instead she was raped and murdered and her body, naked from the waist down, was dumped in dense undergrowth nearby. Her remains were found three weeks after she vanished while walking to the monument. Her murderer, Michael Murphy, then 39, had killed before. He was working on a motorway construction site nearby when he abducted Bettina Poeschel. During Garda questioning he broke down, saying: “Just tell that girl’s parents I’m sorry for taking her life and for what I did to her.” Murphy was given life imprisonment. An appeal was rejected. Eighteen years earlier, Murphy strangled Catherine Carroll, a 64-year-old widow, as she returned from a whist drive. He served nine years of a 12-year manslaughter sentence. A string of previous convictions also included an assault on two women as they walked home from a disco. BH

Lorraine O’Connor

Died, aged 19, on October 23rd, 2001

Lorraine O’Connor was very close to her mother, Anne. She told her everything. When her boyfriend of two years, Noel Hogan, then 30, turned up alone at the O’Connors’ family pub, in Ennis in Co Clare, her mother asked where Lorraine was. He said he didn’t know. She was probably back at the flat they shared, he told her. Anne’s suspicions grew, and she reported her only daughter missing. Days later her strangled body was found under a bed in the flat. Hogan went missing. Hogan had stolen £2,600 from the pub. When the cash ran out he called the Garda from England and admitted the murder. Hogan was brought back and jailed for life. Previous convictions included a sentence for sexual assault. BH

Sr Philomena Lyons

Died, aged 68, on December 15th, 2001

Born Christina Lyons in Rahan, in Mallow in Co Cork, Sr Philomena Lyons was in jovial mood on the cold morning of her murder. She was to take a bus from her convent in Ballybay, in Co Monaghan, to Dublin for the Christmas holidays. Although physically frail, she had a soaring spirit. As she waited at the bus stop she was dragged back into the convent grounds. She was strangled with her own scarf, and her tights and underwear pulled down. She was eight days short of her 69th birthday. The Garda asked locals to fill in a questionnaire. Discrepancies appeared in 21-year-old Kealen Herron’s response. Fingerprints on Sr Lyons’s glasses and DNA evidence later put him at the scene. It is believed she was not his intended target. A young Lithuanian woman had unwittingly escaped his pursuit, and he turned instead on the nun. He was jailed for life. BH

Lisa Bell

Died, aged 22, on December 15th, 2001

Lisa Bell, a night-shift worker with An Post, was getting on well with her brother David. The pair shared a flat at St Teresa’s Gardens in Dublin with her two-year-old son. But rows started after David Bell, then 24 years old, began using heroin again. He was selling things from around the house, including a Christmas present for the child, to fund his addiction. During their final row Bell took a Stanley knife to his sister as she sat up in bed. He slashed her throat and “covered her with a pillow so I wouldn’t have to look at her face”, he admitted. Their father found Lisa Bell’s body hidden in a sleeping bag inside a bedroom wardrobe. David Bell was given a life sentence. BH

2002

Gráinne Dillon

Died, aged 24, on January 5th, 2002

Gráinne Dillon, who “thought her dreams had come true” when she got a job at Jurys Inn in Limerick when she was 23, was shot dead by a colleague, Paulo Nascimento, in the kitchen of the hotel on January 5th, 2002. He had worked as a night porter there for just six days when he pointed a gun at her and demanded cash. She told him, “This is not going to happen,” but he shot her at point-blank range twice and in two separate locations, before stealing €3,000 from the hotel. He then returned and shot her a third time. He was given a life sentence for her murder. In June 2022, Nascimento – who is being held at Shelton Abbey – launched a High Court challenge over what he claims is a refusal by the Minister for Justice to consider his entitlement to parole. You can read more here. J’OC

Joan Power

Died, aged 43, on March 9th, 2002

Joan Power, a mother of three, worked in a butcher’s in Dungarvan, in Co Waterford. Her husband, Declan Power, a mechanic, believed she was having an affair with her ex-employer, a wealthy businessman named Maurice Curran. After she returned from a trip to Dublin, Power confronted his wife. In a rage, he took a mallet to Joan before stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Then he made for the village of Clashmore, where he waited for Curran to close up his pub. Power shot him in the chest and head. Both victims died. Power turned himself in, admitting he was jealous and possessive of his wife. He was jailed for life. You can read more here. BH

Rosie Collinson

Died, aged 50, on March 3rd, 2002

Days before she was murdered, Rosie Collinson had twice contacted a social worker to say she was in fear of her estranged husband. John Collinson had turned up unexpectedly in Carrick-on-Suir, the Co Tipperary town where she lived. He booked into a hotel. The pair had been separated for six years. During a meeting in the hotel, a row broke out over her relationship with another man. Collinson told his trial he “snapped” when she said the man “will f***king kill you”. He beat and strangled her to death. He had been violent to her during their marriage as well. A broken jaw and broken bones were among her past injuries. Rosie’s body was so disfigured she had to be identified by her jewellery. Her coffin was closed. Her husband gave himself up to the Garda. He was jailed for 10 years for manslaughter. A defence of provocation was accepted by the jury. You can read more here. BH

Nichola Sweeney

Died, aged 19, on April 27th, 2002

Music-loving teenager Nichola was getting ready for a night out with her friend Sinead O’Leary. It was in her home in Cork, a house she chose, and loved, when her family had returned to Ireland. She was in the en suite bathroom, Sinead curling her hair on the bed, when a neighbour appeared in the room. Without uttering a word and carrying two knives, Peter Whelan, then 20, launched into a savage attack on the pair. Nichola died from stab wounds. Sinead was critically injured but able to give gardaí a detailed description of their attacker. He was recognised when he returned to the scene to watch detectives. Whelan blamed voices in his head. Two weeks previously he had finished treatment for alcohol and substance abuse. He was handed a life sentence for murder and a 15-year sentence for the attempted murder of Sinead. At her funeral, Nichola was described as modest and sensitive, with an insatiable quest for knowledge and having a delightful sense of humour. You can read more here. BH

Niamh Murphy

Died, aged 17, on May 10th, 2002

The semi-derelict house in the affluent Ballsbridge area of Dublin was a squalid makeshift home for Niamh Murphy. She was squatting with her boyfriend, Phillip Reddin. The pair had been rowing about his ex-girlfriend, Reddin, who was 23 at the time, told the Garda. He said Niamh began hitting him when he grabbed her by the throat. “I grabbed her neck and I kept on choking her, and before I knew it she was blue in the face,” he confessed. “I panicked. I tried covering my tracks by cutting her throat with shears. I knew a lot of prints were on them.” Reddin was jailed for life. In 2011 he died of a heart attack in his jail cell. A pathologist could not determine if it was caused by chronic cocaine use or an inherited heart disease. You can read more here. BH

Nora Kiely

Died, age 46, on July 25th, 2002

Nora Kiely, a lab technician, had made a life for herself against the odds. Despite a constant battle with a severe form of schizophrenia since she was 22-years-old, she held down her job at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork. She had good friends in the city. She was always well dressed. Nora was strangled during a robbery at her flat on Leitrim Street. Her body was found in bed, naked from the waist down. A pathologist said the evidence was highly suggestive of an attempted sexual assault. The robbers had taken €20. A neighbour in the same apartment block, 20-year-old Brian Walsh, was convicted of murder. He got a life sentence. His flatmate Thomas Penkert was acquitted of murder but given a 12-year sentence for the break-in. BH

Carmel Coyne

Died, aged 42, on August 11th-12th, 2002

Carmel Coyne was “a lovely girl, beautiful and very bright”, according to a neighbour who last saw her “buying a school uniform for her young lad. There wasn’t a bother on her at all.” On the day of her murder, Carmel, who had four children, met her estranged husband, Noel Curran. The pair were drinking in Sallins, in Co Kildare. They went back to his caravan, several kilometres north of the nearby town of Allenwood, and drank more. Despite an argument, during which she walked out, Curran said, he brought her back and she eventually went to bed. The lorry driver strangled her while she slept. He continued drinking the next day before turning himself in. He was jailed for life. BH

Mook Ah Mooi

Died, aged 48, on August 22nd, 2002

Mook Ah Mooi watched a film with her killer before he turned on her. The pair were friendly; they lived in the same house in Tallaght, in southwest Dublin. Haw Yong Lamhin, then 20, had been going out with her daughter Fui Ling Pang, but she broke it off. Mook told Lamhin that her daughter was going to France with another man. He would have to return to Malaysia, she told him. They rowed. After strangling Mook, Lamhin threw himself in the River Liffey, but he was fished out by a garda. He admitted the killing, claiming he had lost control and was merely trying to stop Mook screaming. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. His plea was thrown out, and a jury found him guilty of murder. He was jailed for life. BH

Christine Quinn

Died, aged 36, on December 5th, 2002

Christine Quinn’s teenage killer used a bloodied £50 note to buy a PlayStation game after murdering her. A PlayStation was missing from her home in Kilkenny, which was set ablaze after she had been stabbed 35 times. A similar console was found in the home of Mark Costigan, then 16 years old. His trial heard he had been friends with Christine’s son Ronan and a regular visitor to their home, but they fell out over claims that Costigan may have stolen Christine’s mobile phone. Costigan’s trial heard he had set three fires around the house after the frenzied stabbing. A blade was lodged in Christine’s head when her other son found her. Costigan was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder. You can read more here. BH

2003

Jean Scanlon

Died, aged 33, on January 2nd, 2003

An accomplished painter, Jean Scanlon held a diploma from the National College of Art and Design. The Dubliner, who was living in Cork, had suffered from anorexia and alcoholism. Her partner, 44-year-old Edward McKenna, who was originally from Liverpool, was a chronic alcoholic. After beating Jean to death, the part-time doorman stepped over her body to record a film – The Field – on television. Then he went to bed. Jean’s chest almost caved in because so many of her ribs were fractured. She had a broken jaw. There were 108 bruises and cuts on her body. When Carol Scanlon saw her daughter Jean’s body she “could not believe that one human being could do that to another”. Friends and a GP had warned her that Jean “would end up dead”. McKenna told the Garda: “I was vicious. She was just drawing out my temper.” The killer was given six years in prison for manslaughter. Jean’s mother said the only consolation was that “no one would ever hurt Jean again”. BH

Marie Bridgeman

Died, aged 56, on January 21st, 2003

Marie Bridgeman was a well-known brothel keeper. After separating from her husband she was struggling for money – and “did it for my family”, she once said. She had been convicted of brothel-running in Dublin and tax evasion. On the night of her killing she was returning home from the city to Ratoath, in Co Meath, on a bus. Her son Kevin Bridgeman – she was a mother of two – was there to collect her. Neighbours heard a commotion and saw the 38-year-old, a chronic paranoid schizophrenic, jumping on his mother. He later told the Garda she was domineering and “wrecking” his head. She died from a combination of brain injury, blood inhalation, facial fractures and compression of the neck. Found guilty but insane, her son was detained in the Central Mental Hospital. BH

Cliona Magner

Died, aged 19, on February 14th, 2003

Cliona’s schoolgirl dream was to become a rally racer. She loved horseriding and travelled the country to compete in showjumping events. “She was just buzzing with life,” her father said. The second-year mechanical-engineering student at Cork Institute of Technology was shot dead by her former boyfriend on St Valentine’s weekend. Wayne Roche, who was 19 at the time, then took his own life. The students, from Fermoy, had been sharing a house in Bishopstown in Cork. After dating for a year, Cliona wanted to move on with her life. She was adamant they remain friends and flatmates. Roche struggled to deal with the break-up. You can read more here. BH

Natasha Gray

Died, aged 25, on February 18th, 2003

Natasha Gray had wanted to free herself from her abusive husband. It was her two children she stayed for. Then, when she tried to do something about their predicament, 29-year-old Goodwill Udechuckwu bludgeoned her to death with a lump hammer. He dumped her body upside down in the cot of their five-month-old baby. Udechuckwu was just out of prison for assaulting a garda. Natasha had gone to see a solicitor that morning about obtaining an order to bar him from their flat in Phibsborough, in north Dublin. Udechuckwu went into town and bought his murder weapon. It cost €5 in a hardware shop. Natasha was sleeping after working a night shift when Udechuckwu hit her in the head again and again. Udechuckwu absconded but was tracked down in England and extradited. He was jailed for life. Natasha’s father died shortly after. His last words were, “Natasha, Natasha”. You can read more here. BH

Lindita Kukaj

Died, aged 23, on February 22nd, 2003

Lindita worked day and night, waiting tables, to support her family back in Albania. She loved Ireland. She wanted to make Sligo her home. Friends described her as bubbly, hard-working and generous to a fault. In her generosity she welcomed a fellow Albanian living in Dublin to come to see Sligo. Eduart Kulici, then 24, travelled with a friend. Lindita showed the pair around and they went to Toffs nightclub. Kulici got jealous when she hugged another man at the club. They argued. Back at her house, Lindita pleaded with him to leave her alone, but Kulici spent the night in her bedroom. In the morning Kulici laughed as he told his friend, “I killed the f***ing b**ch.” Lindita had been strangled with the necklace she was wearing. Kulici’s friend managed to alert the Garda on the journey back to Dublin. Kulici was given a life sentence. You can read more here. BH

Georgina Eager

Died, aged 29, on May 22nd, 2003

Georgina Eager was bright, gentle and trusting. A fluent French speaker, she took up a job as a make-up artist at the Brown Thomas department store after graduating with an honours degree in European studies. Restless, she answered an ad for a receptionist at an alternative-therapy clinic in Walkinstown, in west Dublin. There she fell under the spell of its owner, Christopher Newman, who was 61-years-old. The Indian-born British national used the alias Prof Saph Dean. She was in awe of him. The pair began an affair. A man Georgina met at a charity ball had sent her text messages. Dean read them and left an aggressive voicemail for the man. After a row, Dean stabbed her more than 20 times in a flat beside his clinic. He fled but was arrested by police in London while drunk. They tried to contact Georgina on his phone. Gardaí who had just found her body responded. Newman was tried in London and sentenced to life in jail. BH

Xiang Yi Wang

Died, aged 21, on July 4th, 2003

Known in Ireland as Linda, Xiang Yi Wang was an only child. It was a huge decision for her parents to send her here from China. The gifted piano teacher was their hope, their future. Two simple reasons, her father said, settled their country of choice: Ireland was safe, and Ireland was beautiful. Xiang was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife in an open green in Bray, Co Wicklow. She had been in a relationship with her killer. Lawyers for 26-year-old Hua Yu Feng argued it was a crime of passion. Xiang had confessed to a date with a garda when they met at the green near her home. Feng got “very crazy, very angry”. He stabbed in her in the back six times, the blade twice going right through her body. Her last words, he said, were, “I’m sorry, Mum and Dad.” Feng was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He was jailed for 10 years. Xiang’s father said, “We sent our child alive to Ireland. She was full of energy and wishes for the future. And we got back only ashes.” You can read more here. BH

Ann Flynn

Died, aged 58, on August 17th, 2003

Ann Flynn was looking forward to her holiday in Co Donegal. She was a quiet woman, a mother of three who went to Mass most days. Dunamon Castle, the headquarters of the Divine Word Mission, was just across from her farmhouse in Co Roscommon. She had been at Mass there as usual on the Sunday. She seemed normal and unworried. Later that day her husband, Brian Flynn, a construction worker and part-time nightclub doorman, went to a local pub to watch an All-Ireland semi-final. What happened when he returned home remains a mystery. It is believed he shot his wife before taking his own life. Flynn rang an ambulance to report a terrible accident. Ann was found dead in a chair in the livingroom. He was found dead in the back porch. They were widely regarded as decent, hard-working people and good neighbours. The double killing baffled investigators. You can read more here. BH

Attracta Harron

Died, aged 65, on December 11th, 2003

Attracta Harron was a “loving, trusting and gentle soul”, her funeral heard. Walking from Mass in Lifford, Co Donegal, over the river to her home in Strabane, Co Tyrone, the mother of five accepted a lift from Trevor Hamilton. A complete stranger, Hamilton was a convicted rapist just months out of prison, on parole. He bludgeoned Attracta with an axe or hatchet before burying her in an animal-feed sack in a hole dug into the side of a riverbank behind his home. Such was the state of her body when it was found, four months later, that experts could not be certain she was sexually assaulted. Sentenced to life, Hamilton was told he would die in prison. BH

2004

Dolores McCrea

Died, aged 39, between January 20th and 22nd, 2004

Despite an increasingly abusive marriage, Dolores McCrea tried to keep the good side out. She was a devoted mother of four daughters. She raised funds for the local school in Co Donegal. When friends asked about her bruises she brushed it off. She eventually plucked up the courage to leave her husband, Gary McCrea, a 41-year-old mechanic. She took a flat in Ballintra and made a new home for her children. She took on two pub jobs to make ends meet. Dolores called to the family home nearby, where her husband stayed, on her way to a darts game with the local women’s team. They were to discuss him buying her car. Dolores never arrived at the darts match. The next morning one of her daughters woke another. “Mammy’s not home,” she said. It is possible McCrea strangled her. It was impossible to say definitively, as he burned her body in a fire that reached 1,000 degrees – hotter than a crematorium furnace. Convicted of murder, he was given a life sentence. An appeal was rejected. You can read more here. BH

Joan Casey

Died, aged 64, on April 3rd, 2004

Joan Casey spent some of her final hours collecting lotto cards to raise money for her parish. She was at St Dominic’s Church in Tallaght, in west Dublin, almost every day. A lovely, kind and gentle woman, a parish priest said. The mother of five, who was also a grandmother, was shot dead as she lay asleep in bed. One of two intruders fired through her bedroom door in the early hours of the morning. She was due to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje within three weeks. Timothy Rattigan and Conor Grogan, both 25, were charged with her murder. The trial heard it was possibly a case of mistaken identity. Rattigan was convicted, Grogan was acquitted. Rattigan later lost an appeal. Joan’s daughter Martina described her “the most wonderful person on earth”. BH

Janet Chaney

Died, aged 47, on April 14th, 2004

Janet Chaney was born in Cyprus, the daughter of a serviceman. She lived for many years in Harnham, a suburb of the old English cathedral city of Salisbury. The mother of three had worked as a dental nurse, carer, cook and barmaid. It was in Salisbury that she met her long-term partner David Hughes. The pair moved to his native Dundalk, in Co Louth. Both had a history of alcohol abuse. They rowed regularly, and there was “a lot of violence in the relationship”, a garda said. Hughes detailed a catalogue of abuse after a day-long drinking session. When Janet was unresponsive the next morning he called an ambulance. There were bruises and cuts to her face, lips, neck, body, arms, hands and legs. She had four broken ribs. Janet’s brain was grossly swollen. She died from head injuries after taking at least eight blows from a blunt object. Hughes was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to a charge of reckless endangerment. You can read more here. BH

Paiche Onyemaechi

Died, aged 25, on July 23rd, 2004

“She never had a problem with anybody,” someone who knew her said of Paiche Onyemaechi. “She was full of smiles and everyone liked her... She was lively and easy-going and loved life.” Paiche’s badly beaten and decapitated body was found wrapped in a black plastic bag near the village of Piltown, in Co Kilkenny. She was the mother of two young boys, then aged three and 18 months. The daughter of the then Malawian chief justice, Paiche came to Ireland as an asylum seeker. No one has ever been charged with her murder. BH

Mary Walsh

Died, aged 54, on September 1st, 2004

Known as Mamie, Mary Walsh lived for her husband and two daughters. She was quiet and had a lovely nature, a friend said. Mamie was a collection agent for a credit company. She went missing while driving to lodge €10,000 in loan repayments at a bank in Kilmacthomas, in Co Waterford. Mamie’s body was discovered in a bloodstained sheet with a piece of rope around her neck in the boot of her car. She had nine head injuries that caused significant damage to her skull and brain. The money was never lodged. Her former colleague Samuel Jennings, then 61, was due to meet Mamie the day she went missing. His trial heard he was in serious financial difficulty. He made significant lodgments in bank accounts linked to him the day Mamie went missing. Jennings was convicted of the murder and jailed for life. BH

Elizabeth McCarthy

Died, aged 30, on September 29th, 2004

A mother of three young sons, then aged six, four and two, Elizabeth McCarthy was dedicated to her children. She was a popular member of the community in Castleisland and Cois Coille, in Co Kerry. She was last seen getting into her brother Robert O’Brien’s car after they attended the wedding of a cousin at the Earl of Desmond Hotel. Her body was found washed up, snagged on barbed wire, on a tributary of the River Lee. She was naked from her waist up, her underwear torn, and with multiple bruising on her inner thighs. Elizabeth had been beaten and strangled. O’Brien, then 26, did not attend her funeral. He originally denied murdering and attempting to rape his sister but changed his plea to guilty five days into his trial. He was given a life sentence for murder. The State did not proceed with the charge of attempted rape. BH

Rachel O’Reilly

Died, aged 31, on October 4th, 2004

Rachel O’Reilly kissed her two beloved children goodbye and “for the next 20 minutes was subjected to the most horrific, violent and barbaric attack no human being should ever have to go through”, her mother, Rose Callaly, said. A Disney fan, Rachel married her childhood sweetheart, Joe O’Reilly, whom she loved “unconditionally”, according to her mother. During his trial for her murder, evidence showed O’Reilly was “repulsed” by his wife. He was having an affair with a former colleague. Just minutes after dropping her sons off at a creche near her home in Naul, in north Co Dublin, Rachel was battered to death in her home with a barbell. Struck on the head a number of times, she suffered a fractured skull. When she failed to collect her four-year-old son from creche, alarm bells sounded. Rose discovered her daughter’s body in a bedroom. O’Reilly was found guilty of murder and given a life sentence. An appeal was dismissed. BH

Marguerite O’Dwyer

Died, aged 17, on November 29th, 2004

Marguerite O’Dwyer was a bright, intelligent girl. She had great plans for the future. She and her brother, Patrick O’Dwyer, were “like peas in a pod”, their mother said. The siblings were watching television at their home in Ennistymon, Co Clare, when O’Dwyer, then 20, went into the kitchen, picked up a hammer and battered his sister around the head. Returning to the kitchen, he picked up scissors and a knife. The apprentice butcher then stabbed Marguerite, a Leaving Cert student, 90 times. O’Dwyer turned himself in to the Garda the next day. A jury accepted that he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time, which substantially diminished his responsibility. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison. You can read more here. BH

Colleen Mulder

Died, aged 41, on December 17th, 2004

Colleen Mulder was just seven when she moved with her family from Bangor, in Co Down, to South Africa. It was there, in the 1980s, that she met her husband, Anton Mulder. The couple moved back to Ireland and had six children together. When Colleen had a miscarriage in July 2004, the marriage deteriorated. She became depressed. The couple started sleeping in separate bedrooms. Their children testified to frequent rows, and to Mulder regularly lashing out. Once he “destroyed the whole house”. Colleen was found strangled in her pyjamas in the bedroom of their rented house in Dunshaughlin, in Co Meath. Mulder, a regional manager for Kentucky Fried Chicken, was sentenced to life in jail for murder, after a retrial. An appeal against his conviction was dismissed. You can read more here. BH

2005

Celia Bailey

Died, aged 54, on March 9th, 2005

Celia Bailey and her husband, Francis Bailey, had just retired to a remote cottage in Achonry, in Ballymote, Co Sligo. They worked for years on the Buckinghamshire estate of Lord Carrington, a former British foreign secretary. Bailey, who was 54, was head gardener, Celia a housekeeper. They were quiet. They were also “obviously a very loving couple”, a coroner said. Bailey used a shotgun to shoot his wife in the head before taking his own life. Their two terriers were also shot. Celia had been suffering from multiple sclerosis. She was taking medication for it because it was too expensive in Ireland. Bailey owed a considerable amount of money. Their bodies were discovered in the cottage they had lovingly restored. It was ablaze. Their only son travelled from England to identify their remains. BH

Irene White

Died, aged 44, on April 6th, 2005

Irene White had just left the two youngest of her three children, aged six and five, off to school. She was at the kitchen sink in her home in Dundalk, in Co Louth, washing dishes. The back door opened and a man stabbed her 34 times. Her mother, Maureen McBride, who lived in a mobile home in the garden, called to the house a short time later. She found her daughter lying in a pool of blood, her head pressed against the dishwasher. Her throat was cut. She was still wearing her orange washing-up gloves. It took more than a decade for anyone to be brought to justice. Niall Power, a “close family friend” who described himself as a “middle man” in a conspiracy, was sentenced to life in 2019 for his part in the murder. Anthony Lambe, a historian, was also jailed for life. Lambe said he stabbed Irene to death at the request of someone else. You can read more here. BH

Emer O’Loughlin

Died, aged 23, on April 8th, 2005

Emer O’Loughlin’s talent had won a place at the National College of Art and Design. She loved trawling second-hand shops. Rarely leaving home without a camera, she was always taking photographs. Sometimes she would hike the Burren with her dogs to get pictures. Emer was always happy and joyful, always smiling, her father said. Emer lived in a caravan near Tubber, on the Galway-Clare border, with her boyfriend. They were saving to build a house. Her body was found in the charred remains of their neighbour John Griffin’s caravan, which had been set ablaze. She suffered a violent death. Griffin, aka Fozzy, went missing 10 days later. It is believed he faked his own death, leaving clothes on a clifftop on Inis Mór, in the Aran Islands. Also using the alias John McDermott, he may have travelled to the UK, Germany, the Netherlands or Spain. Interpol has named him on its most-wanted list. Emer’s father believed Griffin was also spotted in Morocco. BH

Mary Hannon

Died, aged 59, on April 28th, 2005

Mary Hannon met her partner while studying holistic therapy in the 1980s. Martin Kinneavy left his wife to move in with her at an apartment in Inchicore, in Dublin. They ran a holistic-massage business from the apartment and other premises in the city. It was alleged to be a brothel. The Criminal Assets Bureau ordered him to pay €344,000. On medication for depression, Kinneavy, then 58, rowed with Mary after he was told he could not use the money he thought was his to pay the debt. He went into the kitchen and got a knife. As Mary turned to him, he stabbed her 14 times. The final blow left the knife embedded in her abdomen. Kinneavy turned himself in. He was imprisoned for life. You can read more here. BH

Catherine McEnery

Died, aged 35, on July 17th, 2005

Catherine McEnery ran a successful catering business. She had won many awards. Along with her partner, Kieran Lynch, she had just moved into the idyllic Rose Cottage in Derryhoyle, in Craughwell, Co Galway. But under the picture-postcard thatched roof the couple struggled with alcohol and valium abuse. During a row, Lynch, then 39, battered her with the leg of a chair. She died with a fractured skull, broken cheekbone and jaw, fractured ribs and broken fingers. Blood was spattered around the cottage. Lynch was sentenced to life in prison. He successfully appealed the murder conviction, based on the trial judge’s response to the jury about provocation. A retrial was ordered. In 2016 Lynch pleaded guilty to manslaughter and not guilty to murder. The plea was accepted by the DPP. His sentence was reduced and he was freed, as he had already spent 10 years in jail. You can read more here. BH

Frances Ralph

Died, aged 46, on August 18th, 2005

Frances Ralph was “a wonderful person with a generosity of spirit and love that was infectious”, her funeral heard. A brilliant multitasker, she negotiated a house full of males – her husband, Michael, and three boys – with a “master’s degree in diplomacy and conflict resolution”. Her friendship was cherished by many. She loved a singsong too. Frances was out for dinner in Naas, in Co Kildare, with her husband. They were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Standing at a taxi rank later, holding hands with Michael, there was a commotion. She thought she had been “pinched”. Falling to the ground, there was blood everywhere. Frances was stabbed by John Egan, a 49-year-old troubled former chef with a psychiatric condition and drink problem. Charged with murder, Egan was found not guilty by reason of insanity. You can read more here. BH

Ann Walsh

Died, aged 23, on August 24th, 2005

Ann Walsh was days away from a holiday in Spain. She got a photograph taken for her first passport. Instead it was used on her gravestone. From Kilrush, in Co Clare, she had been on a final night out before her trip abroad when she met an ex-boyfriend, Raymond Donovan. Despite the relationship being over, the pair were seen kissing and hugging in a local pub. A row erupted later on the street outside. Donovan, a part-time labourer with psychiatric problems, dragged her into the grounds of St Senan’s Church, where he strangled her. Ann was a beautiful girl, full of life, and never harmed anyone, her mother said. Donovan was convicted of murder and given a life sentence. An appeal against the conviction was rejected. BH

Rosemary Dowling

Died, aged 49, on October 25th, 2005

Rosemary Dowling was a familiar face around Aungier Street in the middle of Dublin. She ran a small second-hand book and music shop. She had grown up nearby, in the Liberties, where her parents ran a grocery shop before her. Rosemary’s body was found wrapped in bedclothes by young people leaving a nightclub in the early hours of the morning. It was just metres from her shop, Star CDs. John O’Neill, a 57-year-old from Mercer House flats, around the corner, had bludgeoned her to death with a lump hammer. His trial was told the pair were alcoholics. She was closing up her shop when they struck up conversation, and she went back to his flat. O’Neill admitted he “saw red” during an altercation, picked up a hammer from his toolbox and struck her on the head. Rosemary was hit at least 14 times. A blade was used to cut her throat. O’Neill turned himself in after door-to-door inquiries aroused suspicions. He was jailed for life for murder. The eldest of Rosemary’s three children was doing her Junior Certificate. Her younger daughter, then just 11, spoke about her mother every day, the trial heard. You can read more here. BH

Regina O’Connor

Died, aged 48, between November 23rd and 26th, 2005

Regina O’Connor, a charity worker, loved gardening. She cultivated her patch at home in Blackrock, in south Dublin, to remind her of her native Rwanda. She had grown up on a large farm. Awaiting a kidney transplant, she grew produce to sell and raise funds for the Irish Kidney Association. On regular trips to her homeland she was dubbed Mother Teresa, bringing money and clothes for the poor. Regina was forced to take out a barring order against her troubled son, Moses O’Connor, but he was living with her at the time. She had made a will granting most of her money to him when he turned 25, but there was a strict condition that he remain drug-free. Shortly before his 25th birthday Moses O’Connor murdered his mother. She was stabbed in her back, neck and arm. Her larynx was fractured. Ten of her ribs were broken. He was jailed for life. You can read more here. BH

2006

Amy Farrell

Died, aged 21, on January 20th, 2006

Amy Farrell was murdered for reporting a crime. Originally from Leixlip, in Co Kildare, she had moved to Cavan, where, as well as doing her day job, as a bank clerk, she was studying information technology, at Cavan College of Further Studies. She had a two-year-old son. Amy knew her killer, Brendan McGahern. A day before her violent death, she gave evidence in court against McGahern’s friend for assaulting her and stealing her car. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail. McGahern, then 26, stabbed Amy to death on the front lawn of her rented home. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. “Even if someone was bad, Amy saw the good in them,” her father said. “She wore her heart on her sleeve. On reflection, this is probably the worst advice we gave her.” You can read more here. BH

Rebecca Kinsella

Died, aged 19, on January 24th, 2006

Rebecca Kinsella’s dream was to study art at college. Her schoolteachers were proud when she enrolled as a fine-art student at Dublin Institute of Technology. Just a term into her first year, the teenager’s life came to a savage end. Rebecca was stabbed 51 times with two kitchen knives. She was bludgeoned around the head with a baseball bat. Her spinal cord was severed. Rebecca’s mother returned to their home in Celbridge, in Co Kildare, to find her daughter lying in a pool of blood. A 16-year-old boy, known to Rebecca but who could not be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to the murder. He was jailed for life. Rebecca’s principal at St Joseph’s College in Lucan, just across the border in west Co Dublin, described her as “a lovely, friendly and happy girl”. BH

Siobhán Kearney

Died, aged 37, on February 28th, 2006

Siobhán Kearney, a Shelbourne Hotel-trained chef, had realised her life’s ambition. Along with her husband, Brian Kearney, she had moved to Soller, in Majorca. The couple bought a 19th-century town house and converted it into a seven-bedroom boutique hotel. They divided their time between the Balearic island and their family home in Goatstown, in south Dublin. But their marriage was struggling. Siobhán had sought legal advice about a separation. Her sister arrived at the Goatstown home one morning and let herself in. Siobhán’s three-year-old son was walking about on his own. She called her father, who arrived and broke through Siobhán’s locked bedroom door to find her dead. Kearney, an electrical contractor, was accused of strangling her . He was found guilty and sentenced to life. An appeal was rejected. You can read more here. BH

Donna Cleary

Died, aged 22, on March 5th, 2006

Donna Cleary was rarely seen without her son, whom she adored. From a respected family in Coolock, in north Dublin, she was full of life and of plans for the future, friends said. Donna worked at a cafe, Berth 49, in Dublin Port. She was hoping to move into a new home with her two-year-old. She was shot and fatally wounded when a gunman opened fire in an indiscriminate attack on a 40th-birthday celebration. The killer was among several men refused entry to the house party. The primary suspect, Dwayne Foster, died in Garda custody two days afterwards. The Garda closed the case in 2007. A garda who arrived at the scene of the shooting found Donna lying on the floor. She was dying. “She was calling for her baby, and she said she wanted to see her baby,” he said. BH

Karen Guinee

Died, aged 23, on June 12th, 2006

Karen Guinee would have been an amazing doctor, her family are sure. They were very proud of her. The trainee medic was a week away from graduating and was to start an internship at Galway University Hospital. Instead of celebrating with her at the graduation, they spent the day at her graveside. Karen was strangled in her home by her boyfriend of two years, Patrick Hogan. She also suffered blows to the head from a hammer found at the scene. An inquest found evidence she was sexually assaulted and may have been unconscious at the time. Hogan phoned his father to tell him “something terrible” happened. In hospital he told nurses he “just killed my girlfriend”. Referring to an attempted suicide, he said, “It didn’t work for me.” Hogan admitted murder but said he did not remember what led to it. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. You can read more here. BH

Sheola Keaney

Died, aged 19, on July 14th, 2006

Tall and striking, Sheola Keaney had a passion for clothes. Her bedroom was like a bomb site. Behind her giddy teenage demeanour she was a treasured friend. “She would lift you up when you were down, and when you weren’t down she lifted you even higher,” said one. She was Peter and Carol’s only child. Sheola moved from Clonmel, in Co Tipperary, to Cobh, in Co Cork. She worked as a waitress at the Rushbrooke Hotel. Sheola had been going out with Thomas Kennedy for a year and a half. When they split up it was amicable. She was last seen leaving a disco with him. Two days later her body was found dumped under scrap metal in a lane. It was wrapped in two bin bags. She had been beaten and strangled. After denying it at first, Kennedy later admitted her murder. He was sentenced to life in jail. BH

Melissa Mahon

Died, aged 14, between September 14th and 30th, 2006

Despite her difficult life, Melissa Mahon had “had a great future” ahead of her, a coroner at her inquest said. A vulnerable child, she had frequently run away from her home in Co Sligo. She had accused her parents of abusing her. She became friendly with two girls who lived nearby while at Mercy Convent school. She began spending time at their home. The girls’ father was Ronald McManus, also known as Ronnie Dunbar. Authorities obtained an order barring McManus from seeing Melissa. She vanished. At his trial for her murder, it was alleged the pair were in a sexual relationship. His daughters said he was responsible for Melissa’s death in his bedroom. Her body was found on the shores of Lough Gill. Her remains were so badly decomposed that an exact cause of death could not be established. McManus was sentenced to life in jail for manslaughter. A judge said Melissa was “a disturbed, fragile and vulnerable child”. You can read more here. BH

Meg Walsh

Died, aged 35, on October 1st, 2006

Meg Walsh was gorgeous, sweet and caring, her brother James said. She was loving her life in Waterford. She got an office job at a local electronics plant. She vanished. Two weeks later a passerby spotted her body floating in the River Suir. The blows that killed her had shattered her skull. Fragments were found in her brain. Her second husband was accused of her murder but found not guilty by unanimous verdict. Nobody has ever been convicted of killing the mother of one. The Garda said the investigation remains ongoing. BH

Baiba Saulite

Died, aged 28, on November 19th, 2006

Baiba Saulite had just begun to enjoy life again. The part-time cleaner had moved into a two-bedroom house in Swords, in north Co Dublin, with her sons, aged three and five. It would be her first Christmas alone with her children, free from her abusive husband, Hassan Hassan. He had abducted the children during an acrimonious custody battle. So distraught she had a nervous breakdown, she travelled to his native Lebanon to get them back. Hassan was imprisoned for the theft of luxury cars. While he was behind bars Baiba was shot as she smoked a cigarette in the hallway of her house. Her children were asleep upstairs. It was believed to be a contract killing. She had warned just days before she was afraid for her life. All she wanted was a normal life for her “bright, happy, intelligent” children. Nobody has ever been charged with her murder. Hassan has denied involvement in his wife’s killing. Outside a court, he shouted: “I, Hassan Hassan, am being blamed for my wife’s murder. I am being framed. I did not kill my wife.” BH

2007

Rose Patterson

Died, aged 30, on April 11th, 2007

Bright, breezy and optimistic, Rose Patterson was a doting mother. An only child herself, she always had an eye on the future, her parents said. Rose met Hadim Kedik, a Turkish barber, in 2004. They moved in together in Clonakilty, in west Co Cork. After their son was born – a little brother to Rose’s two girls from a previous relationship – the couple began to argue. Kedik moved out and obtained a court order to see his son. Dropping their son off to him, Rose locked the girls in her home, promising to be back shortly. They were celebrating the eldest’s ninth birthday. Rose never returned. Kedik stabbed her nine times. She bled to death. Kedik, then 32, attempted to take his own life. Their two-year-old son witnessed the entire horror. He was found asleep, covered in blood and vomit, beside his father. The girls were found still waiting for their mother the following day. Kedik was given a life sentence for murder. You can read more here. BH

Ciara Dunne

Died, aged 32, on April 21st, 2007

Ciara Dunne was known for babysitting in her native Burt, in Co Donegal. After having her first baby, Leanne, she would proudly push the pram around the neighbourhood. She was naive and childlike herself. She married Adrian Dunne in 2005. He was described as dominant. They had another daughter, Shania. The family lived an isolated existence and moved house a lot. They ended up in Monageer, in Co Wexford. Alarm bells went off when Dunne rang an undertaker to make detailed plans for his own funeral. The couple asked at a discount shop about a teddy to put in a child’s coffin. The undertaker alerted the Garda, which asked a priest to visit the family. Ciara told the curate she would never harm the children. Dunne said the arrangements were only in case of an accident. Days later Dunne was found dead in the house. Ciara had been strangled. The children had been smothered. BH

Sara Neligan

Died, aged 31, on June 14th, 2007

An intensive-care nurse at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, in Dublin, Sara Neligan was “beautiful, kind, caring and dignified”, her family said. She adored children and was passionate about helping the sick. She was baptised, made her first communion and was confirmed in the same church. Her father, the pioneering heart surgeon Maurice Neligan, imagined it was where she would get married. Instead her funeral was there. “She was a lovely girl. A beautiful girl,” he said. Sara met Brian MacBarron in Waterford. He had several convictions. They lived together in a Dublin apartment. Sara confided in a friend that she wanted to break up with him. She was to stay with her friend in Wexford. When she didn’t arrive as arranged by train, her friend persisted with the Garda to check on Sara. They eventually found her dead in the apartment. She had been stabbed in the neck and chest. McBarron, then 25, who had attempted suicide, told them: “I wanted to die, so I wanted to take her with me... because she’s mine.” McBarron pleaded guilty to murder. He was given a life sentence. You can read more here. BH

Mary Sleator

Died, aged 82, on July 14th, 2007

Mary Sleator, a retired schoolteacher, loved golf and played off a handicap of 14. The mother of three had won two cup prizes. She and her farmer husband, 85-year-old John Joe Sleator, were regulars at a golf club near their farmhouse in Grangecon, in Co Wicklow. Mary had been women’s vice-captain. They were a generous and charitable couple, always helping out with the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Mary had just set the table for dinner when, it is believed, her bachelor son, 42-year-old Patrick, shot both his parents before taking his own life. When their bodies were discovered, a cooker ring was still on. There were chops in a pan beside it, ready for frying. Mary was wearing her kitchen gloves. BH

Jean Gilbert

Died, aged 46, on August 28th, 2007

Jean Gilbert was a mother, a daughter, a sister and a cherished friend. She was passionate about cooking. She was a committed Buddhist. Jean lived her life on the faith’s principles of “peace and love”, her brother said. “But, sadly, she did not die in that way.” Her husband, David Bourke, stabbed her to death in front of their children at their home in Castleknock, in northwest Dublin. They were 10, seven and three. Bourke claimed provocation by a rekindling of her affair with a fellow Buddhist and musician, Robert Campion. Bourke was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail. Jean’s family later said Bourke was “not the man he claimed to be, and Jean was certainly not the woman David Bourke would like to portray”. It was a “sad marriage” that degenerated 10 years before with an incident that “marked the beginning of a frightful time for her”. A court heard Jean’s children “cried for their mum”. “I really miss my mum,” her then nine-year-old son said. You can read more here. BH

Sharon Coughlan

Died, aged 37, on September 15th, 2007

Sharon Coughlan was the life and soul of every party. Always smiling. She was hard-working and had a job in the Market Bar in Longford. She was the type of friend everyone wished they had. On a normal Saturday she kissed her two children goodbye and went to Tesco to buy groceries. Her 10-year-old daughter was headed for the swimming pool. They never saw their mother again. When she returned from the supermarket a drug-using neighbour, 19-year-old David Brozovsky, was waiting for her. He claimed he had intended to steal her handbag. He strangled her until she fainted. Then he raped her. Then he strangled her again. Until she died. It took just a minute, he said. Brozovsky, from the Czech Republic, had 25 previous convictions. Jailed for life, he was repatriated to a Czech jail. You can read more here. BH

Amanda Jenkins

Died, aged 27, on October 7th, 2007

Amanda Jenkins, who was known to her family as Mandy, worked in a fruit-and-vegetable shop. She always saw the good in everybody. Her nature allowed her to give Stephen Carney the benefit of the doubt. A Real IRA criminal, he wasn’t long out of prison when the pair met and started going out. He had been jailed for a botched security-van raid. Mandy’s mother could see how controlling and abusive he was. She never saw his physical violence against her. In the days before Carney strangled her to death in their Dublin apartment, Mandy confided in her mother: “Mam, I’m getting away from him, I’m getting away from him.” The last words she said to her only child were: “Love you, bye, bye.” Carney murdered Mandy in a row about her smoking. He then went on a drink, drugs and gambling spree with money he stole from her. He told Mandy’s mother she was ill and promised to look after her. It was two days after killing her that he turned himself in. He was jailed for life after admitting the murder. Carney has brought a High Court challenge in his bid for release. You can read more here. BH

Manuela Reido

Died, aged 17, on October 8th, 2007

Manuela Reido had a smile for everyone. She loved music and dancing. A tender friend, a conscientious student and an adored only child, the Swiss teenager had been in Ireland three days when she was raped and murdered. She was staying in Galway to learn English. Gerald Barry, a local 27-year-old, strangled Manuela on a walkway known as the Line in the city. He claimed it was an accident. The jury found him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life in jail. He was later given two life sentences for the rape of another woman, a French student. He had been on bail over an assault on an ex-partner when he murdered Manuela. He was previously jailed for violent disorder causing the death of a man in an unprovoked attack. For Manuela, her visit to Ireland was a test against her homesickness for future, longer trips. Her father, Hans Peter Riedo, said, “I will never lead my daughter as a bride to the altar, and my wife will never knit baby clothes for a grandchild, and we won’t have anyone to look after us when we are old.” You can read more here. BH

Joanne Mangan

Died, aged 20, on October 16th, 2007

Joanne Mangan had just returned from a holiday in Spain. She was living in a rented cottage with her boyfriend, Kevin Prendergast, at Ballynamuddagh, outside Clonmel, in Co Tipperary. They were starting a new life together. The couple invited some friends over for a small party. Alcohol, cannabis and prescription sedatives were taken. Prendergast, a 30-year-old father of two, had a row with Joanne in their bedroom. She fled. He followed, taking two knives from the kitchen, and stabbed her repeatedly, 14 times on the country road. He then stabbed Joanne’s brother, who was sleeping on a chair inside. Prendergast was jailed for life for murdering Joanne and for 15 years for the attack that almost killed her brother. You can read more here. BH

Marion O’Leary

Died, aged 53, on October 17th, 2007

Marion O’Leary loved her five children. And they loved her. Her death had broken their hearts, her son Tony said. Her youngest son, who has Down syndrome, cried for her every night after she was pushed into the River Lee in Cork. Marion was homeless. She had been in a relationship with her killer, 35-year-old Greg Holt. He was also homeless. The pair had been drinking at Albert Quay when, during a row after midnight, Holt pushed her into the water. Hours passed before he reported it. By then she had drowned. Holt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in jail. You can read more here. BH

Ciara Ní Chathmhaoil

Died, aged 22, on November 12th, 2007

Ciara Ní Chathmhaoil had just started college. She was trying to make a better life for herself and her four-year-old son. She had broken up with her boyfriend, Gordon Molloy, a few weeks before. When Molloy, aka Gordie, then 22, heard Ciara had met someone else, he went to confront her at her home in Carlow. Her son watched as Molloy, who had been drinking heavily, repeatedly stabbed Ciara. Her last words were to tell her son to run and hide. The first thing the little boy said to his grandfather afterwards was: “Gordie Molloy killed my mammy with a sword.” He had hidden under his blanket. When asked what he wanted from his home, the boy said the same blanket, so “if Gordie Molloy came to hurt them all they could hide under it”. Molloy was given a life sentence for murder. You can read more here. BH

Sylvia Roche Kelly

Died, aged 34, on December 8th, 2007

Sylvia Roche Kelly was exuberant, caring and a wonderful mother to her 13-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. She was on a rare night out to celebrate her birthday. From Sixmilebridge, in Co Clare, where she ran an art gallery, she had travelled with her sister and a friend to Limerick for the evening. She met Gerard McGrath in a nightclub and agreed to go back to his hotel room, where McGrath battered and choked her to death. Her naked body was found in the bath by hotel staff the next afternoon. McGrath, then 24, fled the country but returned a few days later. He was arrested and charged with the killing. He pleaded guilty to murder and was given a life sentence. On the night of the murder he was on bail for a previous conviction for assaulting a woman taxi driver. Two months beforehand he broke into a house and choked and tried to abduct a five-year-old girl. You can read more here. BH

2008

Marioara Rostas

Died, aged 19, on January 6th, 2008

Marioara Rostas had only been in Ireland three weeks. Along with her younger brother, she was begging on Lombard Street East, in central Dublin. She was from a large, very poor family. A passing motorist promised her a meal at McDonald’s and gave the boy €10. It was the last time any of her family saw her alive. Mariora was abducted, beaten, raped and shot in the head four times. Just before her unspeakably violent death, she had managed to phone her brother in her native Romania. With no English, she tried to read street-name letters outside the house where she was being held. She asked for her “daddy to come get her.” Four years later her body was found in a shallow grave in the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains. Alan Wilson, a Dublin criminal, was charged with her murder. His sister’s partner testified at the trial that Wilson showed him Marioara’s body. Wilson was found not guilty. No one has been convicted of Marioara Rostas’s murder. You can read more here. BH

Lorraine Flood

Died, aged 38, on April 26th, 2008

The Floods were seen as a model family. Lorraine and her husband, Diarmuid, “looked like a real partnership”, a neighbour said. Directors of a successful water-pump business in the Co Wexford village of Clonroche, they were also known in hurling and camogie circles. Their children, six-year-old Mark and five-year-old Julie, were happy and bubbly at school. An inquest found 41-year-old Diarmuid Flood had serious mental-health problems. It is believed that he shot Lorraine and smothered the children. He then set the house ablaze before taking his own life. Both children were found in their beds, Julie with a teddy under her arm. “What happened I cannot explain,” a coroner said. “Maybe no one can explain.” BH

Lillian Scanlon

Died, aged 48, on May 9th, 2008

Lily Scanlon was good, generous, kind and brave, her funeral heard. Many people spoke of her trusting nature. There was much sadness in her life, but happy times too. Separated from her husband, she moved from her native Clara, in Co Offaly, to Athlone, in Co Westmeath. Problems with alcohol were a theme, a judge said. She was found dead in a pool of blood in her kitchen. Agnes McCarthy, an acquaintance, admitted she had hit Lily while the pair were drinking. Another woman sleeping in the house heard Lily call out, “Take your hands off my neck.” McCarthy denied putting her hands around her neck. The fatal neck injury was exacerbated by Lily’s alcohol intake, a trial was told. McCarthy was sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter, with the final 18 months suspended on strict conditions. BH

Nicola Vonkova

Died, aged 19, on July 20th, 2008

Nicola Vonkova had a strong sense of social justice. She fought for animal rights and organised fundraising for a children’s clinic. She met her killer, Jakub Fidler, when the pair worked at a Tesco store in their native Czech Republic. They had been staying in Inverin, in Co Galway, where Nicola was a care assistant. Fidler, then 22, got into a row with Nicola about claims she was spying on his emails. He strangled her. A blind man Nicola cared for phoned the Garda, saying he was being held hostage. When gardaí arrived Fidler led them down a path to Nicola’s body. She was lying face down in a drain, immersed in water. Fidler was given a life sentence. BH

Kezia Gomes Rosa

Died, aged 26, on August 19th, 2008

Kezia Gomes Rosa was hard-working, generous and sweet, her brother-in-law said. She had left her six-year-old daughter with her grandparents in her native Anapolis, Brazil, to work in Ireland. She took a job at Jono’s Bar in Roscommon town, where many compatriots worked in a local meat factory. Every month she sent money home to pay for her daughter’s private school and her parents’ medical bills. She also gave a portion of her wages to a church in Roscommon. She had been in a relationship with Amilton Leonel de Olivera, a butcher. They broke up, and Kezia left their shared flat. De Olivera called to the house she was staying in, and drove a 22cm boning knife he had taken from work into Kezia’s heart. He pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life. You can read more here. BH

Carmel Breen

Died, aged 57, on November 7th, 2008

Carmel Breen, a waitress, had just returned home to Ballybrack, in south Co Dublin, in the afternoon. Her husband of 40 years, Thomas Breen, said she was drunk and lunged at him with a knife during a row. He put his hands around her neck. She collapsed. Believing he had strangled her, Breen, then 60, immediately alerted the Garda. Carmel died as a result of compression trauma to her neck. She had three children. One of her sons told Breen’s trial that alcohol had been a destructive force in their relationship. “They loved each other too much to part but loved to drink too much to give it up,” he said. “Our mother has been torn from us without a chance to say goodbye.” Breen pleaded guilty to manslaughter to avoid their private lives’ being aired in court. His six-year jail sentence was suspended. BH

Noeleen Brennan

Died, aged 38, on November 15th, 2008

“There will never be one as good as Noeleen,” her brother said. The youngest of 11 children, she was best friends with her sister Catherine, the second youngest. Catherine was shot dead with her partner as they sat in a car in Tallaght, in west Dublin. Noeleen never got over her loss. She developed a drinking problem. During a 21-year relationship with Derek Finlay, a kick-boxer, the couple had three children. He was a recovering heroin addict. They regularly fought. In a row about Valium after a day drinking, Finlay kicked her so hard he split her liver. She died from shock and haemorrhage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. An appeal against his conviction failed. You can read more here. BH

Yvonne O’Shea

Died, aged 40, on November 22nd, 2008

Yvonne O’Shea, from Crumlin, in southwest Dublin, had been out with her family when it was reported their car had broken down. They were on a narrow towpath by the Grand Canal in Co Laois. It was initially believed she had fallen into the water. Her partner and their four children were with her at the time. A postmortem determined the cause of death as drowning. Later, the Garda said it was treating her death as murder. Searches were carried out at a house in Dublin and another in Co Kildare. A stun gun was recovered. A man was questioned by investigating gardaí in 2009. He was later released without charge. The Garda said at the time that a file was being prepared for the DPP. BH

Celine Cawley

Died, aged 46, on December 15th, 2008

Celine Cawley, who was from a well-known Dublin family, was dynamic, fun and generous. A former model and actor, she had a successful production and advertising company. She was found dead with serious head injuries at her home in Howth, in north Co Dublin. Her husband, Eamonn Lillis, said he had just returned from leaving their daughter at school when he saw an intruder attacking Celine in the garden. Investigators found a suitcase in the attic with his clothes splattered in her blood. On trial for murder, he admitted there was no intruder. Instead, he said, the couple had argued about cleaning up after the dog and Celine had banged her head during a heated scuffle. Lillis was having an affair with his masseuse. But he insisted that was not the reason for the row. Lillis was found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter. He was sentenced to just under seven years but was freed in 2015, having served five years and two months. You can read more here. BH

Rebecca Hoban

Died, aged 28, on December 17th, 2008

Rebecca Hoban had a heart of gold, her sister said. She had a hard life and, like anyone, had made mistakes. Rebecca met her boyfriend, Clive Butcher, while the pair were sleeping rough in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. They lived a chaotic life together. After he found homeless accommodation in Ranelagh, she was a regular visitor. Just over a week before Christmas they had spent an afternoon drinking and smoking heroin. A row broke out over money for drugs. Butcher, then 43, stabbed Rebecca, a mother of one, six times in the back with a bread knife. He phoned 999, describing himself as an “evil f***er”, and said Rebecca was “dying rapidly on the floor”. Just hours before she had texted him: “I love you Mr C Butcher.” He was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 6½ years. Butcher had 16 previous convictions in his native Britain, including assault and making indecent photographs of children. You can read more here. BH

Sharon Whelan

Died, aged 30, on December 25th, 2008

Sharon Whelan and her two young daughters, Zsara and Nadia, were “three of the brightest lights in our family”, Sharon’s brother said. “These lights went out on Christmas morning, and our families’ lives will never be the same.” It was originally thought to have been a tragic house fire. The truth was unbearably worse. Brian Hennessy, a 22-year-old postal worker, strangled Sharon before setting her home, near Windgap, in Co Kilkenny, ablaze as the children slept. Sharon was found naked from the waist down. Hennessy admitted he had “used her for his gratification whether she wanted it or not”. He killed Sharon, whom he hardly knew, in case his girlfriend found out, he said. The children died in the fire. They “never woke from their sleep” to find it was Christmas morning, Sharon’s brother said. Hennessy returned to his home and spent Christmas Day as normal. He was given three life sentences. You can read more here. BH

2009

Anne Corcoran

Died, aged 60, on January 18th, 2009

Anne Corcoran was described as a “very ladylike person who wouldn’t harm a fly”. She had been living alone in an isolated two-storey farmhouse at Maulnaskimlehane, in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, following the death of her husband in 2007. In 2009 she was found in a shallow grave in Kilmore Wood, in the west of the county, after a two-week search. Oliver Hayes, then 49, was charged with her murder and given a life sentence. Hayes was heavily in debt when he beat Anne to death. He forced her to reveal her bank details and stole €3,000 from her before burying her body in woods. You can read more here. Adesewa Awobadejo

Joan Vickers

Died, aged 43, on April 20th, 2009

Joan Vickers was stabbed to death by her husband, 43-year-old Brian Vickers, in her home in Dublin’s East Wall. He was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering his wife. Richard Vickers, Joan’s eldest son – she had four children and was also a grandmother – said the pain of the loss of their mother would be with him and his siblings forever. He said, “The pain of this loss is even stronger because in a way we have lost both parents.” Brian Vickers, accompanied by his brother, turned himself in at Raheny Garda station at about 6am on the morning of the killing. The prosecution told the court that between the time of the stabbing and presenting himself at the Garda station, Vickers had made no attempt to obtain any assistance for Joan. You can read more here. AA

Tracey O’Brien

Died, aged 31, on June 25th, 2009

Tracey O’Brien died from injuries sustained in an assault outside the Rotunda Hospital, in Dublin city centre. Her mother described her as a wonderful kid whom everyone loved. Tracey was attacked by a friend’s partner after a row. She was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where she fell into a coma and died from her injuries. Wesley Ward, then 31, was arrested and charged with assault causing harm. In June 2011 Ward pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Ward’s partner, Michelle Brannigan, who said Tracey was like a sister, was also arrested and charged with manslaughter. Brannigan was co-operative with the Garda and admitted her involvement in the assault. She was convicted of assault causing harm but acquitted of manslaughter. AA

Carmel Marrinan

Died, aged 61, on July 7th, 2009

“Caring, kind and hard-working”, Carmel Marrinan was killed in her home by her son. A mother of seven, she had worked as a nurse for more than 20 years at Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar; the HSE described her as a much-loved and respected member of staff. She was a popular woman locally, and neighbours described her as devoted to her family. In July 2010 Seamus Marrinan was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity at the Central Criminal Court. AA

Eugenia Bratis

Died, aged 50, on August 4th, 2009

Eugenia Bratis was discovered dead in the Phoenix Park, in Dublin. Initially gardaí were unable to identify the body and appealed to the public for help. It took two weeks to identify the woman as Eugenia Bratis. She was the mother of two grown children who lived in Romania, her native country. It is believed that she slept in hostels and occasionally slept rough. The deputy state pathologist found that Eugenia died from multiple stab wounds that injured her lungs, heart and kidney. There were no injuries indicating that she had defended herself. The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by a person or persons unknown. According to Sgt Aidan Flanagan, when he went to the scene it initially appeared that Eugenia, who was wearing a nightdress, had died in her sleep. But when Dr Haroon Khan went to the scene he saw a portion of “intestine protruding from her wounds”. Two men were arrested in 2009 in relation to her death but were later released. Eugenia’s murder has not been solved and a suspect has not been identified. AA

Brenda Ahern

Died, aged 30, on September 16th, 2009

Brenda Ahern was treated for serious head wounds, believed to have been inflicted by a poker, at her home in Woodlawn Grove, in Waterford city, in the early hours of September 16th, 2009. She was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Brenda, who had three children, had been babysitting her twin sister’s children at her own home. She was described as “a loving, caring friend” who was devoted to her children and family. A man was arrested and released without charge. A file was prepared for the DPP, and the Garda is not looking for anyone else in connection with the death. AA

Lisa Doyle

Died, aged 24, on September 20th, 2009

Lisa Doyle, a part-time model who also worked at the Argos store in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, came from “a well-known and respected family”. She was described as “beautiful, kind and giving”. Her fiance, Gerard O’Hara, then 31, was jailed for life after he admitted strangling Lisa with his hands and a shoelace, claiming he was overcome by the urge to kill. In 2019 the Eastwood community in Bagenalstown marked the 10th anniversary of Lisa’s death by planting “Lisa’s Tree” alongside a plaque. You can read more here. AA

Rebecca French

Died, aged 30, on October 9th, 2009

Rebecca French, who had two children, was described as a “young woman who loved to laugh, dance and help others”. Four men were arrested and charged in relation to her murder after firefighters discovered her body in the boot of a burning car outside Wexford town. Murder charges against two men were dropped when a legal technicality meant their admissions in Garda custody could not be used against them and they pleaded to a lesser crime. Two other men had pleaded guilty to impeding the investigation. In 2012 a woman was acquitted of impeding the investigation into Rebecca’s death. She told the Garda she was ordered to clean up the scene at the house. The jury heard she did so because she feared for her life. AA

Joselita da Silva

Died, aged 33, on October 22nd, 2009

Joselita Da Silva was planning to travel back to Brazil to bring one of her two sons to Ireland when she was murdered by her flatmate, 33-year-old Marcio Goncalves da Silva. Joselita wasn’t related to da Silva despite their similar surname. A fellow Brazilian, he was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Joselita, whose own flat was in Tullamore, in Co Offaly, was planning to visit her boyfriend in Longford on the night she was killed. Marcio Goncalves da Silva said he had been in a secret relationship with Joselita for several months and became angry when she said she was going away that weekend. He claimed to have stabbed her more than 40 times and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The prosecution pushed for a murder conviction, saying he had killed Joselita out of jealousy. AA

2010

Loradana Pricajan

Died, aged 36, on January 27th, 2010

Loradena Pricajan, a popular Romania-born nurse, was full of plans for her life in Ireland, including buying a house and settling down. Loradena had moved on from her relationship of 13 years with Mihalache Marian and was seeing someone new. But in January 2010 she was found with her throat cut in a bedroom at the Irish Management Institute in Sandyford, in south Dublin. Marian – who had called Loradena’s mother and made threats a few days earlier – was at the scene with a number of self-inflicted wounds to the neck. The 46-year-old claimed she had taken her own life, but the pathologist regarded this as “infinitely unlikely”. Marian was found guilty of murder and given a life sentence. An appeal five years later failed. Loradena’s parents left Ireland before the initial guilty verdict, but in a victim impact statement they said, “Going to the place where her life was taken caused us an indescribable feeling of pain and also a lot of stress. We also found very traumatic our trip to Ireland and our presence here in court… Our life without Loredana means nothing. She was our only child.” You can read more here and here. JO’C

Catherine Smart

Died, aged 58, on April 4th, 2010

“Kind, caring, loving and supportive” Catherine Smart, a mother and grandmother, was bludgeoned to death with a hurl at home in Midleton, Co Cork, by her housemate Derrick Daly. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, with the final three suspended. “How could you do that to my sister?” Catherine’s sister Ann Vaughan asked him as he was led away. JO’C

Breda Cummins

Died, aged 31, on May 13th, 2010

Six weeks after Breda Cummins ended her relationship with Michael McDonald he called her 13 times and then turned up at her home in Athy, in Co Kildare, with a kitchen knife, attacking her new partner before stabbing the mother of one in the chest six times. McDonald was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Breda and to three years for the stabbing of John Lawlor. Her family remembered her as “a loving, caring person [who] had a great heart and didn’t deserve what happened to her”. In 2019 McDonald’s appeal on the grounds that his alcohol dependency diminished his responsibility was rejected. You can read more here. JO’C

Helen Donegan

Died, aged 30, on or around May 6th, 2010

Helen Donegan, a 30-year-old mother of one, was shot dead by her boyfriend of nearly a decade, Bernard Curran, who hid her body in the boot of his car for seven weeks while he pretended to help her family look for her. He told them she had gone on a drug run to England. The prosecution accepted his plea of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He claimed he was trying to shoot himself when Helen attempted to grab his shotgun. He was sentenced to nine years in prison with the final two years suspended in light of Curran’s previous good character and on condition he stay away from the Donegan family in perpetuity. “His conning us is 10 times worse than killing her,” her brother said. You can read more here. JO’C

Sarah Hines and Alicia Brough

Died, aged 25 and 20, on November 15th, 2010

A crime of unimaginable horror took place in Newcastle West, in Co Limerick, on a Monday afternoon in November 2010. Sarah Hines and her five-month-old daughter, Amy, were stabbed “with exceptional violence” by her ex-boyfriend John Geary, Amy’s father. Her friend Alicia Brough arrived back from a trip to the butcher with Sarah’s three-year-old son, Reece. She tried to intervene to save Sarah, and was killed by Geary. He then turned on the little boy, murdering him. Having changed his clothes, he walked home. He travelled on to Kilkee, in Co Clare, where he spent the night at a guesthouse, had a full breakfast, and went to two pubs before he was arrested. Sarah’s family remember her as someone who “lit up the world”. Alicia’s mother has described her as uniquely kind and selfless, and someone who showed empathy and compassion beyond her age. At his trial in June 2013, Geary changed his plea to guilty of murder for the four deaths and received four concurrent life sentences, which Mr Justice Paul Carney said was the only option available to him. You can read more here. JO’C

Anna Butautiene

Died, aged 55, on December 24th, 2010

Anna Butautiene, who was originally from Lithuania, died after her 34-year-old daughter, Greta Dudko, banged her head off a wall and hit her with a glass bottle on Christmas Eve 2010, at an apartment in Clonsilla, in west Dublin. Dudko, a well-regarded nurse who had recently been suspended from work over drunkenness, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. “I didn’t mean to kill her, just to shut her up for the night,” she said. After the jury in an earlier trial failed to reach a verdict, she was found guilty of murder in a second trial in 2014, and sentenced to life. You can read more here. JO’C

2011

Breda Waters

Died, aged 28, on January 9th, 2011

Breda Waters, a young mother of three from Limerick city, was murdered because she happened to be in the home of a man who allegedly owed a debt to drug dealers. Des Kelly, a 24-year-old, was murdered along with her, while his sister and five-month-old baby hid in another bedroom. She was the “happy soul” of her large family. One of 19 siblings, she was survived by three children – nine-year-old Courtney, four-year-old Amber and two-year-old Jonathan – and adoring parents. Two cousins, 33-year-old Patrick O’Brien and 29-year-old Thomas Stuart, were found guilty of murder in 2012, and given two life sentences, each to run concurrently. JO’C

Marie Greene

Died, aged 37, between February 13th and 21st, 2011

“Marie was my favourite sister… In my heart she will always be there for me,” said Theresa Greene, Marie Greene’s devastated sister, outside the court where a retired Army private, Jimmy Devaney, was jailed for eight years for her manslaughter in November 2015. Devaney’s trial heard that Marie was involved in sex work and that she had been blackmailing him. He arranged to meet her at Anagorta Bog, outside Athlone, in Co Westmeath, where he stabbed her six times. Her body was found nine days after her disappearance. During the sentencing the judge quoted from character references that described him as “gentle, honest and reliable” and cited his charitable work. Other mitigating factors were cited, including his early manslaughter plea. The judge directed the jury that the defence of provocation could reduce murder to manslaughter even though there was an intention to kill. The family was unhappy with the sentence. “We will never see our sister again. It is hard on us but harder on my poor mother,” Theresa Greene said. You can read more here. JO’C

Katarzyna Bartkowiak

Died, aged 24, on March 1st, 2011

Katarzyna Bartkowiak, aka Kasia, who was born in Poland, was strangled to death by Stephen Goodson Ukiwo, with whom she had a two-year-old son, after she ended their relationship. He alerted emergency services several hours after the incident. After a five-hour negotiation with the Garda, the asylum seeker – who was appealing an order for his deportation – took his own life near the cliffs at Ballybunion, in Co Kerry. Their son was taken into care. Kasia’s family remembered her as an amazing person, a wonderful mum with great potential in life. You can read more here. JO’C

Noreen Kelly Eadon

Died, aged 46, on March 8th, 2011

Noreen Kelly Eadon, a mother of five, was stabbed 19 times by her 19-year-old son, Celyn Eadon, the day after she burned his drugs. Eadon was convicted of his mother’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014. An investigation later found that he should have been remanded in custody three weeks before the murder but gardaí had mistakenly allowed him to walk free. His conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court, and the DPP subsequently accepted a manslaughter plea. His lawyer argued that he had acquired a brain injury from drug abuse that started when he was 10 and deprived him of the intention of killing his mother. Eadon was sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter, backdated to 2011, with the final two years suspended. The court heard how, in prison, he committed about 15 assaults and was regarded as one of the State’s most violent prisoners. He was released in September 2021. “I do not blame Celyn for what happened any more,” his father, Mark Eadon, told the court. “I’m sure, had she survived. she would have forgiven him.” You can read more here and here. JO’C

Deirdre McCarthy

Died, aged 43, on March 28th, 2011

Deirdre McCarthy, known as Dee, was “a happy, easy-going person” whom a judge described as “quiet, modest and vulnerable”. She was missing for three days before her body was found, on Fanore Beach, in 2011. She had been strangled. Colm Deely, her 39-year-old married lover, was convicted of her murder and jailed for life, but the decision was quashed over a procedural problem with the pathology work. In January 2017 Deely pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The State accepted this, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. “Dee was a kind, easy-going person who lived a very, happy ordinary life. There was no fuss from Dee,” her weeping sister Helen Geoghegan told the court in 2017. You can read more here. JO’C

Diane Burroughs

Died, aged 30, on April 17th, 2011

“Lovely, quiet” Diane Burroughs was strangled to death with her own nightdress by her “on/off” partner Jason Daly. She was murdered in her apartment in the middle of Mountrath, in Co Laois, on the night of April 17th, 2011, during a violent incident in which he also cut her neck with a glass. “Call the guards, I’m after killing Diane,” Daly said, walking into a pub afterwards. At his trial in September 2012, Daly – who admitted to her manslaughter but offered no reason – was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In his victim impact statement, her brother John Burroughs said she would be missed most of all by her 10-year-old daughter, whom Diane would “never see grow into a beautiful lady”. JO’C

Ann Henry

Died, aged 49, on September 17th, 2011

Ann Henry, who adored her son and was prepared to forgive him for anything, according to her former husband, asked a doctor to admit the 25-year-old to a psychiatric unit in the months before her death. He was released in August 2011, however, because the Mental Health Tribunal found he did not fulfil the criteria to be detained. On September 12th Ann called the Garda in Roscommon and again asked for him to be committed. Five days later he stabbed her at home in an attack that spilled on to the street, where he was seen punching and kicking her. At his trial in 2016, Paul Henry, then 29, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial heard he was suffering from a psychotic illness but did not acknowledge it and did not believe he needed treatment. He was detained at the Central Mental Hospital. You can read more here. JO’C

2012

Veronica Vollrath

Died, aged 83, on January 9th, 2012

The life of 83-year-old Veronica Vollrath, who was known as Vera, and was a much-loved resident, friend and companion, ended when her son, acting out of compassion, put a pillow over her face in her nursing-home bed in Waterford. She was known to be close to death and was receiving end-of-life care at the time. Gerard Vollrath, who was 46, pleaded guilty in 2014 to attempted murder but was spared a jail term after the judge ruled that his motivation was “entirely compassionate”. However, Mr Justice Paul Carney said that “the law of murder does not distinguish between murder committed for malevolent reasons and murder motivated by familial love... Mercy killing is murder.” JO’C

Rudo Mawere

Died, aged 26, on January 29th, 2012

“All I want is for him to give me my money and then it’s over,” were Rudo Mawere’s last words to her flatmate before she went to meet her boyfriend, 36-year-old Jason Dubé. Her body was found dumped in a suitcase on Blackhorse Avenue, in Dublin, the next day; she had been strangled. Dubé admitted to having committed murder in a note before taking his own life in England four days after her body was found. “She came to Ireland to study. She was a cheerful person, she liked to chat, and most of all I remember she was a part of our family and used to take care of my children back home in Malawi,” her traumatised brother Madloitso Thom said. You can read more here. JO’C

Melanie McCarthy McNamara

Died, aged 16, on February 8th, 2012

Sixteen-year-old Melanie McCarthy McNamara, whose godmother said she “loved life and never got the chance to live it”, was shot twice in the head in a drive-by shooting in Tallaght, in west Dublin. A member of the Traveller community, she was laid to rest in north London, where she was raised. She was described as a perfect person in every way. Two men were arrested the following week in connection with her murder. In July 2013, 24-year-old Keith Hall pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. In the aftermath of the killing, 19-year-old Daniel McDonnell maintained his right to silence during more than 20 Garda interviews but daubed incriminating graffiti on his cell wall that included, “Two in the head. The b**ch is dead ha ha…” He also bragged in two letters about his involvement. He was found guilty of murder and given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney on January 24th, 2014. In January 2016 Hall had his sentence reduced to 17½ years on appeal. In 2018 McDonnell’s murder conviction was upheld on appeal. You can read more here. JO’C

Sarah Regan

Died, aged 30, on February 10th, 2012

Sarah Regan, a mother of two young children then aged 11 and eight, was shot by her ex-partner Robert Hartrey in a meticulously planned murder that shocked relatives in both families. The couple had dated for almost two years and moved from Tipperary, Hartery’s hometown, to Cloonfad, in Co Roscommon, so Sarah could care for her ill father, but the relationship ended and he moved back to his mother’s house. Eleven weeks later she agreed to meet Hartrey at a ghost estate. She was still inside the car, wearing her pyjamas and seat belt, with the engine running, when he approached wearing a camouflage jacket. He shot her three times in the head and neck, using a .22 rifle he had borrowed from a friend, saying he was going hunting. He then drove to the car park of a nearby national school before taking his own life. A February 2014 inquest into her death returned a verdict of unlawful killing. You can read more here. JO’C

Mary Ryan

Died, aged 37, on May 18th or 19th, 2012

Mary Ryan was murdered by her partner, 44-year-old Waldemar Solowiow, because he blamed her for his eviction from his Dublin flat. He claimed she had started the physical fight between them, but the appeal court found that was irreconcilable with the severe injuries to her face and body, and the significant brain damage she had suffered. Solowiow, originally from Poland, was convicted in 2013 and given a mandatory life sentence. He lost an appeal against his conviction, and pursued a further unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. Tragically, Mary’s sister, 20-year-old Breda Ryan, died violently in 2006, and the investigation into her death remains open. JO’C

Siobhán Stapleton

Died, aged 51, on May 25th, 2012

Siobhán Stapleton, a mother of five children, died after her son, 31-year-old Niall Stapleton, who was suffering from schizophrenia, beat her with a garden implement at home near Thomastown, in Co Kilkenny. In December 2013 he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. JO’C

Elaine O’Hara

Last seen, aged 36, on August 22nd, 2012

Elaine O’Hara, a childcare worker, disappeared on August 22nd, 2012. Her remains were not discovered until September 2013, on Kilakee Mountain in Rathfarnham, in south Co Dublin. A week earlier, in an astonishing coincidence, a bag containing clothing, mobile phones and other personal items belonging to her had been found in a reservoir in Roundwood, Co Wicklow. Graham Dwyer went on trial for her murder in January 2015. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life. He later challenged the 2011 law under which his mobile-phone metadata was retained. In April 2022 the European Court of Justice ruled in his favour that the retention of data was unlawful. The Court of Appeal is due to hear a separate appeal against his criminal conviction, possibly in autumn 2022. You can read more here. JO’C

Jacqueline McDonagh

Died, aged 34, on August 29th, 2012

Jacqueline McDonagh’s three children were her “pride and joy”, and she used her “jolliness to hide the fear, anxiety and dread in her life”, mourners at her funeral were told, after her battered body was discovered at her home in Dundalk, in Co Louth. She had been subjected to an unspeakably brutal 80-minute assault, during which she had tried to call her father, Christy, for help. She had never spoken to her family, who are members of the Traveller community, about the domestic abuse she suffered, but they knew her husband, Michael Quinn McDonagh, a bare-knuckle boxer, to be a violent and controlling man. When he was charged with her murder he replied, “I didn’t mean to kill her. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill anybody.” An inquest found she died of haemorrhage from scalp wounds and blunt-force trauma to the body. Quinn McDonagh pleaded guilty to murder and was imprisoned for life. JO’C

Anna Finnegan

Died, aged 26, on September 21st, 2012

To her family Anna Finnegan was an angel, a “wonderful, loving, kind, selfless soul”. She had a barring order against her ex-partner Vezel Jahiri, and had only just moved back home to Blanchardstown, in northwest Dublin, from a safe house when he broke in and stabbed her to death. They had been together since she was 16. An undelivered letter found in her handbag after she died described how he made her life “hell” and “almost killed her”. That night he also stabbed her brother Karl, who was staying with her to try to help keep her safe. Anna’s two young children, a two-year-old and a nine-month-old, were asleep upstairs at the time. After the stabbing, Jahiri left her on the ground outside the emergency department of James Connolly Memorial Hospital. As a security-staff member was lifting her on to a trolley she pointed at Jahiri and said, “He did it.” An hour and a half later she died. During his second trial for the murder of Anna and the assault of Karl in 2017, after the jury in the first failed to reach a verdict, Jahiri, who was born in Kosovo, represented himself; he was removed from the court several times, once for punching the prosecuting barrister. After he was sentenced to life and four years for the assault on Karl Finnegan, their sister Lisa made a plea to women in abusive relationships: “Don’t be afraid. I know the fear Anna was in. She was petrified to come forward. But when she did she was so relieved that she did.” You can read more here. JO’C

Aoife Phelan

Died, aged 30, on October 25th, 2012

“Thank you for those 30 years, Aoife,” the heartbroken mother of Aoife Phelan said at the sentencing of her boyfriend Robert Corbet for her murder. The “beautiful, vibrant” nanny was punched, strangled and buried in a barrel on his land in Co Laois before Corbet caught a flight to New York to see his ex-girlfriend. He hadn’t been in a relationship with Aoife long when she told him she might be pregnant with his child. “She started to get pushy about not being in a relationship”, which caused him to “snap, see red and lose self-control… She knew exactly what to say to get me going,” he claimed. A postmortem after her body was discovered, 13 days later, found she died of strangulation. She was not pregnant. The defence had asked for a verdict of manslaughter by reason of provocation, but the jury agreed with the prosecution that there was no provocation, and he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He wept as the sentence was handed down. You can read more here. JO’C

2013

Olivia Dunlea O’Brien

Died, aged 36, on February 17th, 2013

The family of Olivia Dunlea O’Brien, a playschool teacher who died as a result of six stab wounds and was found following a fire in her home, had to endure three trials before finally seeing Darren Murphy convicted of her murder in 2018. Two earlier trials resulted in a conviction that was subsequently quashed on a legal issue and a hung jury. In 2020 a further appeal by Murphy was thrown out, to the family’s relief. The separated mother of three, who “loved life and everything it had to offer”, had a brief relationship with Murphy. He told the Garda that he “just snapped” after a row, stabbed her six times in the neck and set fire to the house. The court heard she was still alive when the fire started. “Three trials and two appeals will kill you. I don’t know how we’re sane,” her mother, Anne Dunlea, said. You can read more here. JO’C

Deirdre Keenan

Died, aged 51, on February 28th, 2013

Deirdre Keenan, a mother of six, “the best sister ever” and a woman who loved a singsong and Croke Park, was shot dead by 53-year-old John Deegan in a B&B in Carlow town before he took his own life. Both were separated; they had been in a relationship together for six months. They were on a weekend away in Wexford and Carlow when the shooting happened. The inquest heard he had been depressed and returned a verdict of unlawful killing for Deirdre Keenan and suicide for Deegan. “He is not the murderer he was painted to be,” a sister of Deegan told a journalist, adding that much had been made of him keeping his legally held shotgun in his car. This, she said, was a “Deegan thing”. Speaking at Deirdre Keenan’s funeral, the priest said the media attention had not been helpful. “We don’t need stories on the front pages of newspapers,” he said. JO’C

Jolanta Lubiene

Died, aged 27, on June 16th, 2013

Jolanta Lubiene, who worked in a nursing home, and her eight-year-old daughter, Enrika, remembered by her heartbroken father as “the best little girl”, died in a horrendous, vicious stabbing at their home in Killorglin, in Co Kerry, in the summer of 2013 as they made plans to return for good to Lithuania. The little girl had 11 stab wounds and her mother had 61. Aurimas Andruska, a 26-year-old also from Lithuania, was convicted of the double murder in 2014, with two life sentences to run concurrently. An appeal to overturn his conviction was unsuccessful. “He is still a monster,” Jolanta’s sister Kristina said about him at the inquest in 2017. You can read more here. JO’C

Aleksandra Sarzynska

Died, aged 31, on August 30th, 2013

Aleksandra Sarzynska was murdered in her apartment in Navan, in Co Meath, on the evening of August 30th, 2013. Her two children, aged six months and three years old, were locked into the apartment where she died. Aleksandra, who was of Polish origin, had been living in the apartment for two years; she was due to become an Irish citizen later that month. Her husband, 36-year-old Marius Daniel Sarzynski, was charged with her murder on September 9th, 2013, and remanded in custody. In August 2014 he took his own life in his cell at Cloverhill Prison. The previous week he had jumped from a second-floor window at Navan courthouse and broken his hip. You can read more here. JO’C

Patricia Kierans

Died, aged 54, on September 5th 2013

“Lovely, warm-hearted” Pat Kierans, a mother of four who loved bingo and the accordion, was shot dead by her estranged husband of 33 years in September 2013, a few months after moving out of the family home and beginning a new relationship. The jury heard this “did not sit well” with Oliver Kierans. His evidence was that he picked up the firearm with the intention of taking his own life and accidentally shot her. Shortly afterwards he entered a local pub armed with a sawn-off shotgun and locked himself in the basement. He was arrested after an eight-hour siege. At trial he was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter through gross negligence. The couple’s adult children pleaded for mercy from the judge. “Dad would never in a million years have hit my mam… My dad is a good man who loves Mam,” one son told the court. He was sentenced to nine years for manslaughter, eight years for unlawful possession of a firearm and 12 years for possession with intent to endanger life, with the sentences to run concurrently. JO’C

Brigid Bernadette Cash

Died, aged 20, on October 30th, 2013

A young Traveller woman and mother of a little boy, Bernadette Cash died “alone and unaided” after she was punched and kicked in the head in the livingroom of her mother’s house by a 25-year-old cousin, Donna O’Brien. Three men who were in the house at the time left her there, and the court heard that she may have been alive for a number of hours. O’Brien pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 4½ years. “My daughter didn’t get any justice. I’d like to see her getting life, because she’s after taking my daughter’s life,” her mother, Bridget, said, remembering a young woman who was jolly, bubbly and loved country-and-western music. JO’C

Woman 185

Details withheld for legal reasons.

Sara Staunton

Died, aged 28, on December 14th, 2013

“Kind, funny and beautiful” Sara Staunton, who was remembered as a mother of two and “a talented writer with a beautiful singing voice”, was assaulted by her boxer boyfriend of 12 months, 22-year-old Ray Gralton, during what witnesses described as a prolonged fight in which he threw cans of beer at her head. A postmortem found she “sustained severe blunt-force trauma to the head region”, plus damage to the brain, and there were “multiple bruises scattered over her body”. In April 2015 Gralton was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two years suspended. After the conviction Sara’s father, Pat, told RTÉ radio of the physical and emotional abuse his daughter suffered over the course of the year-long relationship. Three weeks before her death, “I said, Sara, babs, I said the next time he hits you he’s going to kill you,” her grieving father recalled. You can read more here. JO’C

2014

Sonia Blount

Died, aged 31, on February 16th, 2014

Sonia Blount was described as an adventurous and exceptional person by her sisters. The mother of one was murdered by 31-year-old Eric Locke, who was later sentenced to life in prison. Sonia had been in fear of him because of his reaction to the breakdown of their brief relationship. Locke used a fake Facebook profile to lure Sonia to a city hotel after she cut contact with him. He then strangled her with his hands and the cable of her phone charger, and suffocated her by forcing her T-shirt into her mouth with such force that he dislodged her teeth. After her death, Sonia’s son Jake “would sob for her” and wonder why his mother “wasn’t coming to pick him up”, Sonia’s sister Claire Reddin said in an emotional victim impact statement at Locke’s sentencing. Jake used to sleep with his mother, so he was used to her soothing him to sleep. “His birthday is a particularly hard time,” she said. You can read more here. AA

Mary Dargan

Died, aged 66, on March 15th, 2014

Mary Dargan was a “lovely person” who had lived in Killinarden in Tallaght, in west Dublin, since it was built, in the 1970s. In March 2014, 58-year-old James Redmond jumped over the back wall with a shotgun and shot Mary Dargan dead. Her daughter Karina was also shot in the head but survived. Karina’s four-year-old daughter, Ruby, was in the house at the time but was not hurt. Redmond, found not guilty by reason of insanity, was detained at the Central Mental Hospital. He had become depressed some months earlier, and he wrongly believed Karina Dargan was “chanting” that he was a paedophile, and it was being said about him in the community. It was established during the trial that there was no substance or truth to these allegations nor any basis for them. You can read more here. AA

Mairead Moran

Died, aged 26, on May 8th, 2014

Mairead Moran was fatally stabbed in her workplace, the Holland & Barrett health-food store in the Market Cross shopping centre in Kilkenny, by her ex-boyfriend. Mairead’s mother described her as precious and said she is “as much a part of our lives now as she ever was”. Mairead was helped by passersby and staff from the nearby SuperValu supermarket, but despite the attempts of paramedics who arrived at the scene and doctors at St Luke’s Hospital, she was later pronounced dead. Shane Smyth, an ex-boyfriend of Mairead’s, was charged with her murder. In February 2016 he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained at the Central Mental Hospital. You can read more here. AA

Lynn Cassidy

Died, aged 50, on June 27th, 2014

Lynn Cassidy, a much-loved mother of four, was beaten to death by her autistic son, 21-year-old Bijan Afshar, when she told him she couldn’t prevent the sale of the house he shared with his father. During her funeral service she was described as a loving woman who lived for her children. Afshar pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and the jury of six men and six women accepted this after less than an hour of deliberation at the Central Criminal Court. He was committed to the Central Mental Hospital. You can read more here. AA

Antra Ozolina

Died, aged 49, on June 28th, 2014

Antra Ozolina, a “dedicated worker” and mother, was strangled to death in what was originally thought to be a suicide. The Garda launched a murder investigation after a postmortem. Egita Jaunmaize, a 34-year-old mother of one with no fixed abode, admitted simulating Antra Ozolina’s suicide. Jaunmaize told the Garda that she feared for her life and was acting on her boyfriend’s orders at the time, having seen him strangle Antra Ozolina with his arm. The man, a neo-Nazi, was never charged because his brain function is limited by an injury he sustained months later, while fleeing after a car he had hijacked crashed. He is currently in a care facility. Jaunmaize was sentenced to three years in prison for impeding the prosecution of her then boyfriend by staging Antra’s death as a suicide. You can read more here. AA

Carol McAuley

Died, aged 54, on August 21st, 2014

Carol McAuley, a grandmother from Ballybough in Dublin, was rushed to hospital on July 25th, 2014, after suffering a catastrophic brain injury. She told staff at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital that she had been assaulted. She was operated on at Beaumont Hospital, but her condition did not improve, and she died on August 21st, 2014. Her inquest, in 2016, heard investigating officers found “huge inconsistencies and mistruths” among statements collected by gardaí in the homicide investigation that followed. The jury returned an open verdict. The Garda file into her death remained open. You can read more here. AA

Maria O’Brien

Died, aged 55, on September 5th, 2014.

“Bubbly and happy” Maria O’Brien was fatally stabbed more than 100 times by another patient, 39-year-old Paul Cuddihy, on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital in Waterford. Maria’s son Patrick Halley described his mother as a “gentle, kind-hearted person who genuinely wouldn’t harm a fly”; “she was also a very caring person who would do just about anything she could for anyone.” The HSE apologised for “failings” in care that led to her tragic death after the family’s civil case against the HSE over her death was settled in 2018. Maria had been a patient at St Otteran’s for several years and was living in a residential unit on the grounds of the hospital. Three nurses were also injured during the incident. Cuddihy was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity at the Central Criminal Court in 2016. You can read more here. AA

Kathleen Cuddihy

Died, aged 73, on October 23rd, 2014

Kathleen Cuddihy and her husband, Jimmy, were killed by their 42-year-old son, Julian, who was later found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. Their daughter Maureen urged people with mental-health issues to “please seek help… Don’t wait. Speak now and get help before you do something that will cause such great pain to your family”. JO’C

Angelique Belling

Died, aged 27, on December 17th, 2014

Angelique Belling, described as a devoted mother and lovely woman, had recently moved to Kildysart, in Co Clare, from South Africa at the time of her death. She ran out of her house on to the town’s main street before collapsing on the footpath. Angelique is believed to have suffered stab wounds to her chest; her husband, 44-year-old Cornelius, had a serious injury to his neck in the family home. Emergency services rushed to both scenes, but both people were pronounced dead. Police believe the couple stabbed each other in a domestic dispute. The couple’s children, aged three and five, are believed to have witnessed the incident. AA

Valerie Greaney

Died, aged 49, on December 28th, 2014

“Caring” and “quick to forgive” Valerie Greaney was fatally stabbed by her husband, 53-year-old Michael Greaney, in their family home in Cobh, in Co Cork. At the funeral Mass it was said Valerie’s “strength of character still stands now as a powerful inspiration to her family”. Greaney took his own life after stabbing his wife and daughter, 23-year-old Michelle, causing serious injuries. Michelle was taken to Cork University Hospital with a serious stab wound, but she was allowed out to attend her mother’s funeral and join her younger sister, who had been sent from the family home by her mother before the tragedy to raise the alarm. You can read more here. AA

2015

Jane Braidwood

Died, aged 65, on January 20th, 2015

Jane Braidwood, a 65-year-old psychiatrist and mother of three, was stabbed to death at her home in Dún Laoghaire, in south Co Dublin, by her psychiatrically ill 30-year-old son, Fionn Braidwood, after she tried to dissuade him from his plans to travel to Australia. He was found not guilty of murdering his mother by reason of insanity, and was committed to the Central Mental Hospital in 2016. Two consultant psychiatrists gave evidence during the trial that Braidwood was suffering from schizophrenia and “unable to refrain from his actions”. His sister also gave evidence by video link in which she said that his condition deteriorated after he went off his medication the previous November but that he had never before been violent towards her or her mother. You can read more here. AA

Anne Shortall

Died, aged 47, on April 3rd, 2015

Anne Shortall, a 47-year-old mother of three and “proud grandmother”, died from nine blows to her head and blockage to her airways caused by duct tape wrapped around her head. Roy Webster, who was 38 at the time, attacked Anne when she threatened to expose their one-night affair. He was found guilty by a unanimous jury verdict of her murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Anne’s children and siblings said their worlds “fell apart” when they found out about her brutal murder. Anne’s brother James took his own life seven weeks after her death. “Our family will never be the same,” her surviving siblings said. You can read more here. AA

Marie Quigley

Died, aged 69, on July 27th, 2015

Marie Quigley, a woman of “deep faith, a wonderful mother, faithful wife and friend”, was murdered in her home in Co Louth in 2015. She was killed by her husband, Jim, who then took his own life. The couple’s son-in-law, John Ahern, said that Jim’s mental illness was “one battle we just couldn’t win”. The couple were buried together beside their son Aidan, who died at a young age, in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Dundalk. Marie was a mother of five children and a grandmother. You can read more here. AA

Natalie McGuinness

Died, aged 23, on October 28th, 2015

Natalie McGuinness, a young woman who “saw the good in everyone”, was strangled to death by her boyfriend, Oisin Conroy, in an apartment on Mail Coach Road, in Sligo. He was found with lacerations to his own head and told doctors he tried to “skin himself alive”. Conroy “believed he was in the Matrix” and strangled Natalie to death in order to save her, he said. He was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and committed to the Central Mental Hospital. Natalie hoped to work in childcare but never got the chance. Her mother described how her birth, on New Year’s Day 1992, was “the most precious gift” the family could have hoped for after the devastating tragedy of having previously lost three children – twin girls, who died when they were two days old, and a baby boy who died at six months. You can read more here. AA

Brigid Maguire

Died, aged 43, on November 14th, 2015

Brigid Maguire, a mother of two and hospital care assistant with a “beautiful smile”, was strangled by her partner of 25 years, two months after she had left him. Danny Keena, who was 53 at the time, was given a life sentence. During the trial, Keena’s history of abuse was exposed. Both children, including a 12-year-old son, gave emotional testimony about their father’s violence and recalled an occasion they had to defend their mother. Their daughter, Jade Maguire, described her mother as “full of life” and as a “kind, caring, religious person, who put the needs of others before herself”. She advised other domestic-abuse victims to seek help so that they wouldn’t end up like her mother. “We will never forgive Danny Keena for what he has done.” You can read more here. AA

Marian Horgan

Died, aged 60, on November 23rd, 2015

Marian Horgan, “a beautiful all-rounder with many hidden talents”, was stabbed to death by her 27-year-old son, Paul, at home in Cork. His father, Billy, also suffered serious injuries. Paul insisted he only wanted to “set her free, because life is so cruel”, and then “free himself”. He was convicted of his mother’s murder in June 2018. Her family chose not to make a victim impact statement, and Billy Horgan did not want to press charges against his son, who was assessed and found not to be suffering a serious mental disorder as defined under legislation. “Just on a bad day when I am feeling a bit depressed – it annoys me that I cannot talk to women,” he told the Garda. JO’C

2016

Clodagh Hawe

Died, aged 39, on August 29th, 2016

“A wonderful, dedicated and caring” teacher, Clodagh Hawe and her sons, 13-year-old Liam, 11-year-old Niall and six-year-old Ryan, were murdered at home by their husband and father, 40-year-old Alan Hawe, in August 2016. Hawe used an axe and knife to murder Clodagh and then stabbed their three sons before he subsequently took his own life. Her family have since said that they don’t know what the truth is behind his actions. Clodagh’s sister Jacqueline Connolly and her mother, Mary Coll, refuse to accept evidence at the inquests into their deaths that Hawe had a depression that escalated into psychosis; they believe he was avoiding the consequence of something he was doing at work, possibly related to an addiction to pornography. The school where he worked later said there was no evidence of inappropriate activity on his part during school time. In a suicide note Hawe spoke of his shame and said “it was easier for them to die than to have to live with the truth of what he was doing”. Clodagh is remembered by her colleagues as “a mentor, adviser and a support for all parents, a source of joy, fun and a wonderful friend”. You can read more here. AA

Kitty Fitzgerald

Died, aged 72, on November 1st, 2016

Kitty Fitzgerald was murdered by her husband, 75-year-old Tom Fitzgerald, in their home in Co Mayo in a suspected murder-suicide. She was described as “bubbly and vibrant” and always brought a smile to all her friends. Kitty managed to raise the spirits at her regular choir practice. The cause of her death was given to her inquest as “blunt-force trauma to the head”. Tom Fitzgerald took his own life. Their son, 37-year-old Paul, was also attacked with same weapon – part of a scaffolding pole – knocking him to the ground. Found at the scene, he was in a critical condition for some time. In a statement read to the inquest, Paul Fitzgerald said his father had been depressed before his death and had been prescribed an antidepressant but “snapped out of it” after a few weeks. You can read more here. AA

2017

Nicola Collins

Died, aged 38, on March 27th, 2017

The mother of three boys was found naked in a flat in Farranfree, in Co Cork, with 125 bruises, cuts and lacerations to her body in March 2017. Her partner, Cathal O’Sullivan, was jailed for life in November 2018. The sentencing hearing heard that in 2013 O’Sullivan had received a three-year suspended sentence before Cork Circuit Criminal Court for a violent assault on another woman. Nicola’s father, Michael, and sister Carly spoke about her vulnerability and how her character had been “vilified” during the trial by O’Sullivan, which was “a second ordeal” for them. They remember her as a vivacious, fun person who was very dearly loved. JO’C

Samantha Walsh

Died, aged 31, on April 28th, 2017

Samantha Walsh met her killer, Danny Whelan, in an addiction treatment centre. The mother of four had just returned home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and was clean when Whelan, who was high on drugs, beat her to death in an apartment in Waterford city. Forty minutes before her death she called a friend and said, “He’s killing me.” Samantha’s brother Raymond said she had a kind and helpful nature and was beautiful inside and out. Whelan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life. JO’C

Amy McCarthy

Died, aged 22, on April 29th or 30th, 2017

Amy McCarthy lay alive in a coma for four hours or more after she was assaulted and strangled by her boyfriend at a squat in Cork city, as a witness looked on, unable to stop the assault. Thirty-year-old Adam O’Keeffe, who was the father of her baby son, denied murder but admitted manslaughter. At the sentencing hearing, Amy’s sister Jessica asked that her son would be known by his name and “not the boy whose father killed his mother”. O’Keeffe lost his appeal against the conviction in July 2021. JO’C

Saoirse Smyth

Last seen, aged 28, in April 2017

Saoirse Smyth was last seen in Belfast in April 2017. Her body has never been found. Members of her family have said they are convinced she may still be alive and has been sold into the sex trade, although the PSNI believes she may have been murdered by a man who has connections to a cross-Border drug gang. It has identified four main suspects but says there is not enough evidence to pursue a case. JO’C

Patricia O’Connor

Died, aged 61, on May 29th, 2017

Patricia O’Connor was one of nine people spanning three generations of the same family who shared four bedrooms in a modest Rathfarnham house. She was murdered by her daughter Louise’s partner, Kieran Greene, in May 2017. Parts of her dismembered body were found spread at different locations in the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains over a few days the following month. Greene was sentenced to life. Patricia’s son Richard told the court his mother had been portrayed in a despicable way, to make out she was a horrible person. He said, “My mam was a kind and loving person, a mother, a sister and a grandmother.” You can read more here. JO’C

Linda Evans Christian

Died, aged 29, in June 2017

Linda Evans Christian went missing from Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, in northwest Dublin, in June 2017. Her remains were found in July in Coolmine woods, and had to be identified using DNA. A man who had fled the country shortly after her death subsequently returned and was arrested but later released without charge. JO’C

Woman 211

Details withheld for legal reasons.

Antoinette Corbally

Died, aged 48, on August 16th, 2017

Antoinette Corbally – “the best in the world... our family’s hero” – was making plans to celebrate her daughter’s Leaving Cert when she was shot in the head and the torso at the house belonging to a relative in Ballymun, in north Dublin, in 2017. The mother of six was trying to protect her brother, and a child he was holding, from a gangland hitman. Her brother was the intended target. Another bystander, Clinton Shannon, was shot dead while sitting in a car outside the premises, while Antoinette’s 18-year-old daughter, Andrea, who was pregnant and had just received her Leaving Cert results, was injured after a bullet grazed her. Another victim, Brian Moran, was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg. The Coroner’s Court heard in May 2022 that a file has been sent to the DPP and the Garda was awaiting direction. You can read more here and here. JO’C

Anne Colomines

Died, aged 37, on October 25th, 2017

“Beautiful, intelligent” Anne Colomines, a French national, loved life. But she was murdered by her Brazilian husband, Renato Gehlen, after she told him she wanted a divorce. The jury did not believe his claims that she had stabbed herself, and accepted the State’s case that Gehlen had displayed the “ultimate in toxic masculinity”. Alexandra Colomines said her sister was a “generous lady who loved people and was always smiling and was ready to help” and urged people in controlling relationships to talk to someone they trust. You can read more here. JO’C

Rosie Hanrahan

Died, aged 78, on December 14th or 15th, 2017

Rosie Hanrahan was doing her shopping at a Tesco near her Limerick home when she was spotted by Alexandru Iordache, who had arrived in the country a day earlier. He followed her home, tied up her up and strangled, assaulted and robbed her. He had 29 previous convictions, several of which had similarities to his crime against Hanrahan. He pleaded guilty after he was extradited from the UK and was sentenced to life. Her family described her as “like a fairy godmother”. You can read more here. JO’C

2018

Joanne Ball (Joanne Lee)

Died, aged 38, on February 9th, 2018

Joanne Ball’s body was found wrapped in plastic in a wardrobe in her estranged husband Keith Lee’s Dublin apartment by the Garda on February 15th, 2018. She had been strangled six days earlier. Catherine Ball said the loss of her “bubbly, beautiful” daughter, whose four dogs and two cats were “like her children”, was the family’s worst nightmare. “We miss her and think of her every minute of every day.” Keith Lee was found dead in his prison cell on April 12th, 2018. You can read more here. JO’C

Natalia Karaczyn

Died, aged 30, on April 29th, 2018

The 30-year-old mother of three, who was from Poland and living in Sligo, was strangled in her own bedroom by her husband, Rafal Karaczyn, when she returned home from a night out. She told him repeatedly by text that the marriage was over, and two days before he murdered her she told him she wanted him to move out. “You are not free and you will not do whatever you want,” he texted her. She replied that she was not a prisoner and she would not be intimidated. In evidence that was not allowed to be shown to the jury, it was revealed that he had been secretly filming her in the shower and bath. After he killed her he dumped her semi-naked body in a forest. “Soon the trial will be over and everyone will forget and move on but not us. We will never forget or move on,” said her sister, Magdalena McMorrow. Karaczyn pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the jury found him guilty of murder. You can read more here. JO’C

Anastasia Kriégel

Died, aged 14, on May 14th, 2018

There was collective shock and distress when the body of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan, in west Co Dublin – and then again when two children, both 13-year-old boys, were tried and convicted of her murder. Boy A was also convicted of sexual assault. Her parents have spoken of their incomprehensible grief at the loss of their “wild and wonderful, electric, so full of fun, madness and laughter” girl, their “ephemeral angel”. Boy B, who was sentenced to 15 years in November 2019, began an appeal against his sentence in June 2022. Ana’s father, Patrick, died the week the appeal began. JO’C

Jastine Valdez

Died, aged 24, on May 19th, 2018

Jastine Valdez, a Filipina student, was abducted by 40-year-old Mark Hennessy shortly after getting off a bus on a bright May evening in Enniskerry, in Co Wicklow. He killed her. Hennessy was shot dead by gardaí the next day, after they believed he was stabbing Jastine. “I still cannot believe my daughter is no longer around to talk about our plans for the future,” her father, Danilo, has said. Her parents miss her so much “it is hard to bear”. You can read more here. JO’C

Giedre Raguckiate

Last seen, aged 29, on May 30th, 2018

Giedre Raguckiate, from Lithuania, had been in Ireland for just two months before her disappearance. She was last seen alive in an unconscious state at a house in Laytown, in Co Meath, in the early hours of May 30th, when she is believed to have been taken away by two men. An arrest was made in January 2022 in connection with her disappearance. In her family’s words, she was “a rebel angel with a tender heart.” You can read more here. JO’C

Ingrida Maciokaite

Died, aged 31, on September 18th, 2018

Ingrida Maciokaite had already overcome the toughest start to her childhood, having spent her first three years in a prison in Lithuania. She was building a fulfilling life for herself in Dundalk, in Co Louth, when she was brutally stabbed to death by her ex-partner in front of their six-year-old daughter. The court had recently returned custody of the little girl to her mother. Ingrida also had an 18-month-old boy. Edmundas Dauksa was jailed for life in 2021. She was a gentle and popular member of the community in Dundalk, well known for her work in cafes and restaurants. JO’C

Amanda Carroll

Died, aged 33, on October 21st, 2018

It was Amanda Carroll’s 16-year-old son, Denis, who found her body in the bedroom of her apartment in Cabra, in north Dublin, in October 2018. She had been strangled. Later, Denis would tell the court that he had seen her boyfriend, Sean Nolan, act aggressively towards his mother. Nolan was jailed for life for murder in 2020. Amanda was remembered as a loving mother, wonderful sister and valued family member “who shouldn’t just be viewed through the prism of what happened”. JO’C

2019

Elzbieta Piotrowska

Died, aged 57, on January 8th, 2019

Elzbieta Piotrowska, a Polish former Olympic gymnast, was brutally murdered and decapitated at home in Ardee, in Co Louth, by her own son, 35-year-old Tomasz Piotrowski. He suffered from psychosis and delusions brought on by long-term drug abuse. She had arranged for him to come to Ireland, reportedly in an effort to protect him from drug gangs. Elzbieta and her husband, Krzystof, were very popular in Ardee, and she was particularly known for her pride in her beautiful home. “It is a tragedy that cannot be explained, understood or accepted,” her daughter, Justina Szuba, said, describing how her father could not eat, saw no meaning in life and was a shadow of himself. Piotrowski was sentenced to life in 2021, a week after being deemed fit to stand trial. You can read more here. JO’C

Cathy Ward

Died, aged 41, on March 1st, 2019

Cathy Ward suffered a long history of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband, Alan. She tried to leave 15 or 20 times in the years before he eventually murdered her at their home in Clondalkin, in west Dublin, in March 2019. When their son, Adam, tried to intervene to help his mother, Alan Ward also attempted to stab him. In January 2022 Ward was given a mandatory life sentence for her murder and concurrent sentences for the attempted stabbing of their son. Cathy was remembered as a “bubbly, happy woman” who was “a role model and best friend” to her children. You can read more here. JO’C

Skaidrite Valdgeima

Died, aged 34, on June 26th, 2019

Latvian-born Skaidrite Valdgeima was the “number-one best friend” of her two teenage daughters and her little girl of seven. She was stabbed more than 50 times by her partner, Valerijs Leitons. He was later found guilty of manslaughter with substantially diminished responsibility because of his paranoid schizophrenia, but the jury rejected the defence case that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Her youngest child misses her mum and “all the fun stuff with her”. You can read more here. JO’C

Nadine Lott

Died, aged 30, on December 14th, 2019

Nadine Lott, a young woman who was the happiest she had ever been, with a beautiful daughter she loved, a job, a car and an apartment she was proud of, died three days after she was beaten with unimaginable savagery in front of her six-year-old daughter by the man her family refer to only as “the monster”’: her ex-partner, Daniel Murtagh. He was sentenced to life for the horror inflicted on her. Nadine’s family recalls how Kya was “the love of her life” and how she told her mother, two months before she died, how she was “so happy in my life now”. You can read more here. JO’C

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2020

Seema Banu

Died, aged 37, on October 28th, 2020

“Kind-hearted” Seema Banu and her two “precious gems” of children, Asfira Riza and Faizan Syed, students at the local Educate Together national school, were found dead at home in Ballinteer, in south Co Dublin, in October 2020. Sameer Syed, Seema’s husband and the father of the children, was due to go on trial in June 2022 for their murder, but he was found dead in his jail cell on June 9th. Sameer Syed had previously been arrested and was charged with seriously assaulting his wife five months before her murder. JO’C

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2021

Jennifer Poole

Died, aged 24, on April 17th, 2021

“Bubbly, fun” Jennifer Poole was stabbed to death at her home in Finglas, in north Dublin, by her ex-boyfriend Gavin Murphy, whom she had broken up with just weeks before. He pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to life. Jennifer’s brother Jason said afterwards that his sister – a mother of two children, aged eight and five – “lived in fear” of Murphy. “Every piece and every element of her life stopped,” he said, calling on Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to introduce legislation to tackle domestic violence. The 30-year-old murderer had a conviction for assaulting a previous partner. Her brother said he is tormented by the idea that she spent her last minutes on earth with “the very worst of humanity”. You can read more here. JO’C

Eileen O’Sullivan

Died, aged 56, on September 7th, 2021

Eileen O’Sullivan and her 24-year-old son, Jamie, were murdered at their home in Lixnaw, in Co Kerry, by her partner, Mossie O’Sullivan, who then took his own life. The Garda described what happened as a personal tragedy for those involved and their families. Members of Eileen’s family and the local community have since criticised the HSE for the lack of support offered to the shattered community. JO’C

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2022

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To get in touch with the journalists or add more information to the Stolen Lives archive, email jennifer.oconnell@irishtimes.com

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, support is available. The Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline, at 1800-341900, operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides support and information to callers experiencing abuse from intimate partners. You can also get help through the organisation’s website

This article was edited on July 27th and on August 10th 2022