The school principal of a teenage mother of two who was stabbed to death outside a supermarket in Co Meath was yesterday called to give evidence on behalf of the defence in a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Maurice Daly was giving evidence in the trial of Kelly Noble (21), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Emma McLoughlin (19), who was stabbed to death outside Pat's supermarket in Laytown on June 2nd last year.
Ms Noble, Seaview in Laytown, also denies a charge of unlawfully producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate or inflict serious injury.
Mr Daly told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that he had been a principal at Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh in Laytown for 33 years. In October 1998, he said a letter was written to the board of management of the school, which stated that the safety of pupils and staff in the school could not be guaranteed as long as Ms McLoughlin remained a pupil.
Mr Daly produced a letter that had been written to him by Ms McLoughlin, who had been diagnosed with having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in which she apologised for her behaviour and asked for another chance. She wrote that every time she got into trouble she did not feel "the pain that you do". He said she had also written to the parent of a child in the school and apologised for hitting her son in the PE hall and asked if she could meet face to face to apologise for all the upset.
The case was adjourned until next Tuesday.