A man has been remanded in custody for sentencing today after he changed his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial for the murder of his then former girlfriend in Co Cork last summer.
Thomas Kennedy (21), Russell Heights, Cobh, Co Cork, had denied murdering Sheola Keaney (19) at Cobh between July 14th and 16th last when he was first arraigned at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork last Tuesday. He reiterated his not guilty plea when the charge was again put to him last Friday, but yesterday he asked to be rearraigned on the single charge and when it was read to him, he pleaded guilty to murder.
Sheola's father, Peter, broke down in tears while her mother, Carol, was comforted by her partner, Seán Tobin, when Kennedy changed his plea just as prosecution counsel Patrick McCarthy SC was about to call various State witnesses.
Mr Justice Paul Carney noted the change in plea and remanded Kennedy in custody to appear again at the Central Criminal Court today when it is expected that a victim impact statement would be presented.
Last Friday, opening the case for the State, Mr McCarthy said Ms Keaney had been going out with Kennedy for 18 months before they split up last May. There was no major issue in the split and they remained on civil terms.
He told the jurors they would hear that Ms Keaney was left in the company of Kennedy by one of her friends in the early hours of July 14th. When they could not contact her the next day and she did not come home, her mother contacted the Garda.
A missing person's investigation was launched but at about 8pm on Sunday, July 16th, gardaí found her body wrapped in two plastic refuse sacks and hidden near a laneway at Newtown, Cobh.
On Friday, Mr McCarthy told the jury that a post-mortem examination finding of death due to manual strangulation would be supported by evidence of bruising to Ms Keaney's neck, while lesser injuries on her back would suggest that she was pushed forcefully against a wall in the course of the fatal assault.