The parents of Midleton schoolboy Robert Holohan yesterday told a court how shocked they were to discover that their next-door neighbour, whom their son idolised, had admitted killing Robert.
Majella and Mark Holohan told how they were taken aback when Supt Liam Hayes called to their house on January 16th last to say they had arrested Wayne O'Donoghue for questioning about Robert's death.
Asked how she felt on hearing the news that Mr O'Donoghue had admitted to gardaí that he killed Robert, Ms Holohan said she was "astonished ... Robert adored Wayne - he looked up to him as if he was an older brother".
Mr Holohan said he "couldn't believe it" when Supt Hayes told him Mr O'Donoghue had been arrested. "Robert looked up to Wayne - he idolised Wayne."
Robert's grandfather, William Murray, admitted he didn't know Mr O'Donoghue well and had only spoken to him on occasion but he painted a similar picture of the schoolboy idolising the engineering student. "Wayne was Robert's god, even though he was years older," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue (21) has denied a charge of murdering Robert near his home at Ballyedmond, Midleton, on January 4th, 2005, but he has admitted a charge of manslaughter.
Yesterday, on the second day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, Ms Holohan said Mr O'Donoghue had offered to help search for Robert, and had even rung Robert's mobile as she stood beside him growing increasingly worried about her son.
"Wayne called to the house and offered his assistance along with his father and brothers," she said, adding that when gardaí found Robert's new BMX bike, she asked Mr O'Donoghue to go and identify it.
She also told the court that Mr O'Donoghue called around to the house that night - which was, by his own admission, just a few hours after he had killed Robert and dumped his body near Inch Strand - and reassured her that Robert would be found safe and well.
"He said, 'Don't worry - you will find him all right. I'll try him on my mobile and he will answer my number.' He rang Robert's number and put the phone to his ear. He told me there was no answer. He tried two or three times - he was next to me," said Ms Holohan.
She told the jury of five men and seven women that Mr O'Donoghue called to them about three times as they frantically searched for Robert, and he even suggested areas where they should search.
"I offered him tea and he said, 'Don't worry, we will find him.' I thanked him and I told him that he was too good and that he was doing loads." Throughout it all, Mr O'Donoghue appeared normal, she said.
Mr Holohan told how he drove into Midleton on the night of January 4th to search for Robert, to no avail. When he returned home, there was already a group of people - including Wayne O'Donoghue - preparing to go searching.
"Wayne O'Donoghue said to me, 'Will I search down at the back of the wood?' He said something to the effect that he had been down there before. I said what's the point in searching there then - why not go somewhere else?" said Mr Holohan.
Mr Holohan said Mr O'Donoghue seemed the same as everybody else involved in the search that evening - very anxious. He said he certainly didn't notice anything unusual about the accused's behaviour.
Ms Holohan told how following the discovery of Robert's body, she had lined up Mr O'Donoghue to read one of the prayers of the faithful at his funeral mass but Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, who had already assisted with an appeal, offered to help and she got him instead.
Robert had more or less grown up with Mr O'Donoghue from the time the Holohans moved to Ballyedmond nine years ago. Mr O'Donoghue had built a treehouse for Robert at the side of the Holohans' garden.
Mr O'Donoghue used to call to the Holohans to play soccer with Robert in the garden.
When Mr O'Donoghue got a car, he used to take Robert and another friend, 13-year-old Heather Harte, into Midleton to get DVDs or to McDonald's, said Ms Holohan.
Cross-examined by Mr O'Donoghue's counsel, Blaise O'Carroll SC, Ms Holohan said she wouldn't go so far as to say Mr O'Donoghue was like a member of the family, though she broadly agreed that the two had "a special relationship." The case continues today.