A FORMER soccer player has been jailed for three years for killing a woman he said he thought was spreading rumours about his baby being taken into care.
Wesley Ward (33) pulled Tracey O’Brien to the ground and kicked and stamped on her head outside the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. The mother of his child, Michelle Brannigan, was also involved in the attack. She was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of assault last month.
The court heard Ward told gardaí on his arrest: “All I did was kick her in the face, what’s wrong with that?”
Ward, of Áras Na Cluaine, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ms O’Brien (31) in Dublin on June 25th, 2009.
The victim was in hospital for a week after the assault before she died of her injuries, which included a skull fracture and brain haemorrhage.
Judge Martin Nolan took into account Ward’s guilty plea and accepted that the deceased had “myriad” health conditions.
At the sentence hearing the court heard Ward was a promising footballer before he fell into heroin addiction. He played for Home Farm and Monaghan Town football clubs and was called for a trial with Queens Park Rangers.
Det Sgt Desmond McTiernan told prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn SC that Ward’s former partner, Michelle Brannigan, gave birth to a child who suffered from severe medical difficulties.
Shortly after the birth, Ward arrived at the maternity hospital and told Brannigan that Ms O’Brien was spreading false rumours that the child had been taken into care. Ms O’Brien came to the hospital and Ward and Brannigan confronted her outside.
A fight broke out between the victim and Brannigan, and the two were exchanging punches when Ward pulled Ms O’Brien to the ground by her hair. He punched and stamped on her head while she lay on the ground.
After the fight Brannigan and Ms O’Brien made up and sat on a bench talking. Ms O’Brien was bleeding heavily, disorientated and vomiting. She was taken to hospital where she fell into a coma and died a week later. The coroner determined she died from the injuries to the head which were most likely sustained when she was pulled to the ground by Ward.