A MAN was given a life sentence at the Central Criminal Court yesterday after pleading guilty to murdering his girlfriend in Galway two years ago.
Patrick Hogan, Fr Griffin Avenue, Galway, admitted murdering Karen Guinee (23), a newly-qualified doctor, at that address between June 11th and June 12th 2006.
Supt Tom Hurley told Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that Hogan rang his parents at about 6.30am on June 12th. He told them something terrible had happened and the downstairs door was locked. He asked his father to call gardaí to break down the door.
Hogan's father and mother went to the flat the couple shared, which was over the Hogan family pharmacy. Mrs Hogan had a spare key to the flat and let them in. They went straight upstairs to the bedroom where they found Hogan and Dr Guinee lying on the bed apparently unconscious. Their arms were linked. Dr Guinee was cold to the touch, but Hogan was still breathing.
Supt Hurley said a postmortem conducted by State Pathologist Marie Cassidy confirmed that Dr Guinee had died from compression of the neck, consistent with manual strangulation.
She had also received blows to the side of her head using a blunt object identified as a hammer found at the scene. Bruising to her mouth would have been consistent with a blow to the mouth, or with someone forcibly covering the mouth with a hand.
Supt Hurley said that Hogan was brought to Galway University College Hospital where he received stitches for self-inflicted slashes to his arms.
He told nurses at the hospital that he had "just killed my girlfriend". Referring to suicide, he said: "It didn't work for me." When one of the hospital staff told him they would sort things out, he replied: "I don't think this can be sorted out. I have killed my girlfriend. I think you know her. Her name was Karen." Asked if his girlfriend was a doctor, he replied: "Not any more."
When he was charged with Dr Guinee's murder, he told gardaí: "I can't bring her back. I would if I could." He did not tell gardaí what had happened to lead to the murder, saying that he could not remember, but the Garda investigation confirmed the couple had spent the day before together. Supt Hurley agreed with Martin Giblin SC, defending, that Hogan had been going out with Dr Guinee for about two years.
Michael Guinee, Karen's uncle and godfather, speaking in a victim impact statement, said his niece "was a victim of her own caring and loving nature." She had decided to become a doctor at a young age and was one week away from her formal graduation.
She would have started an internship at University College Hospital on July 1st and was only a week away from the 24th birthday when she died. "She would have made an excellent doctor."
He said that for the six years she had been away from her native Cork while studying in Galway and had phoned home every single day. Her two younger sisters had lost "an idol and a role model".
Mr Guinee said Karen's parents were so proud of having a doctor in the family and had been looking forward to attending her conferral on June 20th, a week after her death. Instead they spent the day by her graveside. He said Karen's youngest sister still wrote notes to her sister to leave by her grave and her father often spent whole Sundays there.
Laura Guinee told the court she had been speaking to her sister the night before her death. She had never imagined it would be the last time she spoke to her. She said she was "my big sister, my inspiration, my best friend".
Mr Giblin said Hogan took full responsibility for Dr Guinee's death. "He would never ask for her family to forgive him because he cannot forgive himself."
Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down the mandatory life sentence.
Outside the Four Courts after the sentence, Laura Guinee said: "We got justice which we wanted. Nothing will bring Karen back. It has been very tough for all of us.
"She would have made an amazing doctor. It's a great loss for the world."