'Thank God it's over,' said Linda as she was led away

It was one of the ironies of the 13-day murder trial that Charlotte and Linda Mulhall looked a great deal healthier, more alert and composed in its final days than at the beginning.

While the jury came and went on its 18 hour deliberations, Linda (31), neatly dressed in a shirt and leather jacket with a piercing glittering above her upper lip, often examined her nails. Charlotte (23), dressed in denim, her dark hair in a pony tail, with a vivid scar across her forehead, always looked the more confident of the two.

On their excursions into the courtroom, they sat quietly, chatting amiably with their lawyers or siblings, or leafing through reading material such as Heat and Bella, The Irish Times, and a copy of James Frey's controversial book about drug and alcohol addiction, A Million Little Pieces.

Then shortly after 2.30pm on bank holiday Saturday, in the unnaturally quiet confines of the Four Courts, Linda gently hugged and kissed her two older brothers, James and John, before being led away to the cells. "Thank God it's over," she whispered, carefully dabbing the tears from her eyes, as the prison officer urged her to leave.

There were also hugs, handshakes and wistful smiles for solicitors, barristers and detectives. They are clearly a tactile family. There was evidence that after Linda had finally broken and given a statement to Det Insp Christy Mangan, she had hugged him. During the four days of the jury's deliberations, their poised, well-dressed young sister, Marie, an apprentice mechanic, would get a hug and an affectionately-clasped arm when she came down from the public gallery to chat to Charlotte.

When the end came on Saturday only their brothers and sister, media and investigating gardaí remained to bear witness to their fate. There were no parents to console them.

Their father, John Mulhall, the hard-working, respected glazier described by Det Insp Mangan as the "mainstay of the family", hanged himself in the Phoenix Park just before Christmas. The detective said he had no doubt that "the weight of the case had certainly contributed to his death". Their mother, Kathleen Mulhall, who had left her husband for Farah Swaleh Noor, the 38-year-old victim who was more than 10 years younger than her with an estranged wife and two children in Kenya and a man revealed in court to be a violent, sexual predator, is out of the jurisdiction and is being "actively" sought by gardaí.

The dead man had no friends in court. When Judge Paul Carney asked about the possibility of a victim impact statement before sentencing, he was told that the Garda had not received any "great assistance from the Kenyan authorities".

Two questions asked during their 18 hours of deliberation suggested that the jury of six men and six women had reached an impasse on the issues of provocation and self-defence. In the end, they found Linda guilty of manslaughter by a majority of 10 to 2.

A brief summary of her personal history, delivered by Det Insp Mangan after the verdicts, suggested that the mother of four had met little but trouble, tragedy and brutality for much of her young life, beginning with "a very tough family background", the "drugs-related" death of her husband, and subsequent relationship with a man who ultimately got seven or eight years for burning and brutalising her four small children.

When she failed to turn up as scheduled for the trial, a psychiatrist told the court that she became addicted to heroin and was drinking three bottles of vodka a day.

Charlotte, found guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to 2, had given birth while out on bail a few months ago. She also came from a "troubled, tough" background, said the detective, who referred to some "minor offences" in her past. In her statement made last October, she had said : "We promised my ma we would say we did it."

When the verdicts were read out, the sisters did not touch or look at each other. In the silence, both looked down and showed no surprise. Charlotte called over her solicitor to ask to be allowed to keep her baby - currently in foster care - with her in prison until he is 18-months-old.

Late on Friday evening, when the exhausted jury forewoman reported that they were "talked out" and the "air was blue" in the jury room, Judge Carney urged them to reach a conclusion, reminding them that "five children have a vital interest in this".

As the jury, lawyers, media and gardaí hurried away from the Four Courts and his sisters were being driven to prison, James Mulhall paused to thank investigating gardaí.