A woman has been acquitted of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of a New Age Traveller whose body was found dumped in a slurry pit at a farm in West Cork almost four years ago.
Una Geaney (45), originally from Fermoy in County Cork but with an address at Mullinagleamig, Dingle in County Kerry, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Gary Bull (37) at Shanlaragh, Dunmanway, County Cork on or about September 23rd, 2007.
At a Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork this morning the jury of eight men and four women returned after deliberating for six hours and 37 minutes to find Geaney not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter by a 10-2 majority verdict.
Mr Justice Paul Carney remanded Geaney in custody for sentence at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on June 7th. He also directed the preparation of a victim impact statement for the sentencing hearing.
Earlier, Mr Justice Carney remanded a co-accused, Jason Thomas (39) from Exeter in the UK, in custody for sentence on the same day in Dublin after he pleaded guilty to Mr Bull's manslaughter on the same occasion.
A third co-accused, Amanda McNab (25), a native of Scotland but living at Mullinagleamig, Dingle, Co Kerry, had earlier also pleaded guilty to Mr Bull's manslaughter and had been remanded in custody for sentence on June 7th.
The body of Mr Bull, who was originally from Hertfordshire in the UK but was living in a mobile home at Kilmichael in West Cork, was found in a slurry tank at a farm at Shanlaragh on October 11th, 2007 following a tip-off to gardaí.
A postmortem examination revealed Mr Bull died from severe head injuries consistent with being struck with a blunt instrument.