A man who admitted killing his wife with caustic soda was jailed for three years at the Central Criminal Court yesterday. Michael McKinney (60), an unemployed driver, pleaded guilty last November to the manslaughter of his wife Maura (58) at their home in Rathvilly Park, Finglas, Dublin, on August 5th/6th, 1996.
Mr Justice Carney sentenced McKinney to eight years' imprisonment but suspended the last five years. The judge said he had taken into account a letter he received from the five McKinney children asking for a non-custodial sentence so that the family can build itself again.
However, the judge said he was dealing with "a public crime" and not simply a family matter. He said from the evidence it was apparent that Mrs McKinney had "a bad vodka problem" and that McKinney was "sucked into the pattern of heavy vodka drinking". He said the binge drinking led to violence and McKinney came out of a drunken stupor to find his wife dead and accepted that he must have been responsible for it.
The judge said he had also taken into account the facts that McKinney had no previous convictions, had a history of work and that he had admitted responsibility for the death of his wife. The judge said that from the State Pathologist's report Mrs McKinney suffered burns to 36 per cent of her body, and one ear was totally burned away by caustic soda. He said he had the difficult function of balancing the painful death of Mrs McKinney over 12 days with the evidence of the family.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Hugh Hartnett SC said the youngest member of the McKinney family, Sinead (26), left the family home at 11 p.m. on the night of August 5th because her parents had gone to buy a bottle of vodka. She spent the night at a friend's house because she was aware of the difficulties which arose from drink. When she returned shortly before 7 a.m. the next day she had a problem getting in because her mother was lying on the floor. Mrs McKinney was dressed only in a T-shirt and had serious injuries to her face and body which were caused by caustic soda which was normally kept in the shed and used for clearing drains. Mrs McKinney died on August 17th , 1996, from septicaemia.
Mr Hartnett said McKinney was asleep upstairs when the gardai arrived and he was arrested. Det Garda John Lyons told the court Mr and Mrs McKinney had engaged in significant drinking which had led to violence in the home. He said there was evidence that at least two bottles of vodka had been drunk on the night of Mrs McKinney's death. He said the caustic soda container was on the kitchen table.
McKinney told gardai he and his wife had bought a bottle of vodka at a local off-licence and drank most of it before going back to the off-licence to buy another bottle.
He told gardai: "I can't remember anything at all. I don't remember going to bed and I don't remember beating my wife up. I can't remember what happened to my wife. I am totally ashamed of myself and that is the truth. I am not a liar."
Mrs Catriona Armstrong, a daughter of the McKinneys, said her mother had started drinking about 11 years before her death and would sometimes consume a bottle of vodka a day. She said her father in later years had started drinking with her and would try to drink most of the vodka so that her mother would not drink it. Mrs Armstrong said they had a very happy childhood. Ms Sinead McKinney said there was never any trouble in the house until her parents started drinking.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, said the death of Mrs McKinney was " a horrible crime". Mr McEntee said McKinney was "riven with remorse". He had tried to deal with his wife's alcoholism by becoming an alcoholic himself.