A Dublin man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of a 49 year-old mother of two.
John O'Neill (57) from Mercer House flats, Mercer Street in Dublin had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of Rosemary Dowling (49) at his flat between October 24th and 25th 2005.
The naked body of Ms Dowling, from Home Villas in Donnybrook, was found wrapped in bedclothes near his flat in the early hours of Tuesday October 25th.
The defence claimed the deceased had bit Mr O'Neill's penis during a sexual encounter and that he was so provoked by her actions that he temporarily lost control.
But the jury of ten men and two women rejected this and took three-and-a-half hours to reach their murder verdict.
Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced O'Neill to the mandatory life sentence and backdated it to the October 27th 2005.
During her victim impact statement, Sheila Dowling, the younger sister of the deceased, broke down as she described the 'horrible effect' her sister's murder had on the entire family.
She said her killing has been "especially hard" for her two children - the oldest of whom is doing her Junior Cert. She said her younger child, who is 11, speaks about her mother everyday.
During the trial, the court heard how the deceased ran a second-hand record store on Aungier St., near the home of Mr O'Neill.
The victim and Mr O'Neill were both alcoholics and the deceased's drinking had led to a number of minor convictions for public order offences.
On the evening of Monday 24th October 2005, Mr O'Neill left the pub in which he had spent the day drinking and passed by the deceased, whom he knew only as Rose.
He told gardai he knew her for less than a year and that they began talking. A passer-by saw him help her shut the shop and walk arm-in-arm along the street in the direction of Mr O'Neill's flat.
He said the deceased was more drunk than Mr O'Neill.
They were also seen by Mr O'Neill's neighbour who said they were in good spirits.
Gerard Clarke SC, for the prosecution told the jury at the start of the trial that from this point on, the only evidence they had of what followed was from Mr O'Neill's own account.
In interviews with gardai, Mr O'Neill said that when they arrived back at his flat they continued drinking and at about midnight, engaged in sexual activity on the couch.
He told gardai they then went into the bedroom where Ms Dowling began hitting and scratching him and then bit his penis. At this point he "saw red".
He picked up a hammer from his toolbox beside the bed and followed her into the hall where he struck the first blow across her head.
Ms Dowling then fell to the floor and he dragged her into the spare bedroom where he continued beating her across the head.
State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, said Ms Dowling had died due to blunt force trauma to the head.
She had been struck at least 14 times most of which appeared to have been while the victim was concussed, unconscious or incapacitated. She also found part of a blade used to cut the throat of the deceased lodged inside her neck.
Prof Cassidy also noted a small amount of bruising at the entry point to the vaginal wall.
She said it was impossible to know how long it would have taken the victim to die.
After the killing, O'Neill said he could not believe what he had done and began wrapping her body up in bedclothes. He showered, and then dragged a blood spattered armchair down a nearby lane, before trying to set fire to it, along with the lump hammer and some clothes.
After that, he dragged the deceased's body outside and left it where he knew "someone would see it".
Sometime later, the body was discovered. The following evening Det Gda Laura Mangan called to Mr O'Neill's flat during routine house-to-house inquiries. She noticed an armchair seemed to be missing and that the bedclothes found on the body seemed to be similar to those found on the body.
She also noticed there was no bed sheet on the bed and a warrant to search his flat was sought.
During the search which followed, Mr O'Neill left his flat. The following day O'Neill arrived voluntarily at Harcourt Terrace Garda Station where he admitted to the killing.