The two Dublin sisters found guilty of killing and dismembering their mother's African boyfriend have been jailed for terms of life and 15 years in what was described by the judge as the "most grotesque case" ever to have come before him.
Charlotte Mulhall (24), a mother of one, was given the life term for murder at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin whilst her older sister Linda (31), a mother of four, was given a 15-year term for the manslaughter of Farah Swaleh Noor, who had been dating their mother, Kathleen.
Charlotte stabbed him up to 20 times with a kitchen knife whilst Linda admitted hitting him "a good few times" in the head with a claw hammer.
Both then spent hours sawing up his body in the bathroom of their mother's Dublin apartment at Richmond Cottages, Ballybough.
They then dumped his limbs and torso in the nearby Royal Canal before taking his head on the bus to Tallaght where it was hidden in a park, before being disposed of in another location. To this day the head and penis of the victim, who was from Kenya, have never been found.
Both had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Noor who was also known as Sheilila Salim on March 20th last year. Both sisters - Linda dressed in a white shirt and black leather jacket and Charlotte in a pinstriped suit - held hands as the judge handed down his sentence.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said: "This is the most grotesque case of killing that has occurred within my professional lifetime. So far as Charlotte is concerned, the sentence is a mandatory one of imprisonment for life." In Linda's case he said whilst it was open to him to impose a life sentence for a manslaughter case, the jury had allowed the defence of provocation, and he should respect that.
However he said there were many factors in Linda's dysfunctional background that the jury would have already taken into account in determining the defence of provocation. He said she had no previous convictions- other than one for larceny, which her lawyer pointed out was 13 years ago.
He added she had been highly co-operative with the gardaí and "very frank in her admissions".
"Any time the police called she took them to point out locations and on the final occasion when the police came to arrest her she said she had had her bags packed on the first day."
He said an appropriate sentence in this case was one of 18 years in prison, but taking those factors into account he imposed a sentence of 15 years to date from the time of her arrest.
Speaking to counsel for Linda, Brendan Grehan SC, the judge said: "As far as you've urged on me that she is a good mother, I don't regard this as particularly persuasive. If she was a good mother she would not have got herself into a situation of this kind."
Earlier the judge also said Linda had made an attempt to delay the murder trial from going ahead and pointed to evidence given on her behalf by Dr Brian McCaffrey who said she had been drinking up to three litres of vodka a day.
Speaking outside the Four Courts yesterday, Det Supt John McKeon said: "The gardaí are pleased with the outcome of the investigation and pleased with the verdict of the jury. I would like to extend my sympathies to the family of Mr Noor, his mother and his wife, and extend our thanks to members of the public who came forward to help us with our investigation."