An 18-year-old Kilkenny youth has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a woman two years ago.
The jury of six men and six women delivered its unanimous verdict to the Central Criminal Court late yesterday evening, after deliberating for 2½ hours.
Mark Costigan of Aylesbury, Kilkenny had denied killing mother-of-two Christine Quinn (36) at her home on Greenfields Road on December 5th, 2002.
Mrs Quinn's son, Jason, an army private found his mother dead in her smoke-filled kitchen, on his return from his barracks that afternoon. She had been stabbed 35 times, her fire-damaged body had 69 knife injuries and a blade had been left in her scalp.
Last night as the verdict was read out, members of Costigan's family burst into tears. The accused began to sob too, when Mr Justice Peart handed down the mandatory life sentence before the teenager was led away in handcuffs.
The victim's sister-in-law, Bernie Quinn, said the family was delighted and could not begin to thank the judge and jury for their decision. She also thanked Kilkenny gardaí for their hard work. "It's been two long years. We just hope now the boys can get on with their lives" she added.
Mr Jason Quinn said it was the proper decision, long overdue and "the end to a long story". The victim's elderly mother, Mary Madden, said simply: "Justice was done."
During the three-week trial, the court heard that on Thursday afternoon, between 1.50 p.m. and 4.45 p.m., an intruder came into the victim's home and stabbed her to death.
There was evidence of a struggle in the kitchen and hall, and three separate fires had been lit in the house before the assailant left. The doors had been shut, and the lack of oxygen meant the house did not burn down.
Det Garda Shane Henry told the court that the house was "the scene of a sustained and violent assault and deliberate fires". The victim's younger son, who cannot be named because of his age, gave evidence to the court by video-link.
He said he had known the accused all his life, and had been very friendly with him during summer 2001. "He would have been there [ in the Quinn home] most days of the week," he said.
The friends fell out that September, when allegations were made that Costigan may have been partly to blame for the victim's mobile phone going missing.
A PlayStation 2 was one the few things missing from the Quinn home after the murder. A PlayStation 2 with a similar "peculiarity" was found in the accused's mother's home on the day of his arrest.
The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, concluded that the cause of death was multiple stab-wounds to the trunk of the body, especially to the lungs liver and heart, including the aorta.
The assailant had stabbed the victim down through the bridge of the nose, forcing the knife through the cartilage and out the nostril.
"She obviously had put up some fight," she said, pointing out that injuries to her hands were consistent with defensive and taunting injuries.
She described one wound to the palm as suggesting that while trying to grab the attacker's arm, Ms Quinn had instead grabbed the blade.