A man convicted of murder yesterday claimed that addiction to Valium on top of his drink problem had led him to beat his long-term partner to death with the leg of a chair.
He was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney. Self-confessed alcoholic, Kieran Lynch (40), of Francis Street, Askeaton, Co Limerick had denied the murder of his partner Catherine (Katie) McEnery (35), of Feenagh, Kilmeady, Co Limerick, at Rose Cottage, Derryhoyle Mór, Craughwell, Co Galway between July 16th and 17th, 2005, during an eight-day murder trial at the Central Criminal Court in Galway.
Lynch claimed Ms McEnery had provoked him and, while he admitted he had beaten her with the leg of a chair, he denied he had intended to kill her. He said Ms McEnery was a violent woman when she drank vodka and that she had instigated the assault by hitting him first.
On the night she died, the court heard, the deceased had not drunk vodka but had taken a quantity of beer and cider instead, along with a therapeutic dose of Valium. The jury found Lynch guilty yesterday of the murder of Ms McEnery by an 11 to one majority after six and a half hours' deliberation.
The trial had heard the couple had a history of alcohol and Valium abuse during their 10-year relationship and Lynch claimed he had been assaulted with a knife in the past by the deceased. He also claimed they kept going to different doctors to obtain prescriptions for Valium every time they moved address.
Gardaí found Ms McEnery's battered body in a blood-spattered bedroom of the rented cottage, two miles from Craughwell village, after she had been viciously beaten to death with the leg of a chair by Lynch. A letter penned by the accused to Ms McEnery's parents and family was read out to the court. In it Lynch claimed he had become addicted to Valium after he and Ms McEnery had experienced a traumatic event in their lives.
"We went to the doctor and he prescribed Valium for us and without knowing it we became addicted. We both felt ashamed we were addicted.
"Everyone is talking about the dangers of drugs, but addiction to prescription drugs is just as dangerous, and addiction to Valium is very dangerous when added to alcohol addiction. Anyone with a drink or drug problem should go and get help before it's too late.
"It's a warning to doctors to stop prescribing Valium to known alcoholics," Lynch said in the letter.
Describing his victim as "an angel" he went on to apologise in the letter to the McEnery family. "I can only apologise to Katie's parents and siblings for the awful act I have committed in taking someone as beautiful as Katie from them in such a brutal way. I'm totally ashamed and will never forgive myself," he said.
The letter acknowledged that contrary to the way the deceased had been portrayed by him in interviews to gardaí, she was a beautiful, hard-working, health-conscious woman who had built up a successful catering business in Limerick and had won many awards for her business acumen, prior to them moving to Galway and later to Rose Cottage on the outskirts of Craughwell village.
"She was an outstanding athlete and she loved animals. That was why she was a vegetarian. She had a passion for cooking and was a great chef. She kept herself fit and healthy. She had beautiful long red hair and was stunning looking, contrary to what was said in court," the letter stated.
The late Ms McEnery's older sister, Helen McEnery, read a statement to the court outlining the family's suffering at not being able to see their sister's body due to the extent of the injuries inflicted by Lynch.