This article is from page 43 of the 2013-12-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 43 JPG
GUILTY verdicts were returned at the murder trials of two Clare men at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
North Clare man Colm Deely (41) had pleaded not guilty to murdering Deirdre McCar thy (43), between 11pm on March 27, 2011, and noon the following day.
But a jury of seven women and five men found the father of two guilty by unanimous verdict in just under three hours of deliberation.
Mr Justice Barry White said he was handing down a mandatory life sentence and that he had no discretion in the matter.
Ms McCarthy was socialising in a local pub with friends including Deely on the night she went missing. The cour t heard Ms McCarthy’s body was found on Fanore Beach four days later and that and that Deely did not take part in the search to find her. It also heard that after her body was found, Deely, of School Road, Ballyvaughan, attempted to take his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach.
Deely told gardaí they were “fooling around” in Ms McCarthy’s bed and he put his hands around her neck but did not mean to kill her.
FAS worker Deely claimed Ms McCar thy tried to blackmail him. Mr Patrick Giblin SC, defending, told the court his client was sorry for what he had done but “intended no harm”.
In a victim impact statement, the deceased’s sister, Helen Geoghean said, “I don’t think we will ever be able to tr uly put into words the devastation that we still feel each and every day.
“Dee was a happy easy-going person who lived as very simple life. She didn’t have much need for the material things in life but she was a very caring person who loved life,” she added.
Also at the Central Criminal Court, Barefield farmer Joe Heffernan (33), of Cappagh Beg, Barefield, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of law student Eoin Ryan (21).
Heffernan pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ryan at Cappagh Beg, Barefield, on June 7, 2011.
The trial heard that Heffernan told gardaí he killed Mr Ryan because he made a pass at him, adding that the devil had been in the man’s eyes.
The court heard Mr Ryan sustained multiple injuries to his head and body and that his blood was found on a socket wrench at the scene.
The trial had heard that Mr Ryan was gay and that both men had left the pub together hours before his death.
The prosecution said that Heffernan’s motive was his abhorrence with himself that he might be homosexual or have engaged in a homosexual act that morning.
The defence asked for manslaughter verdict arguing that Heffernan’s adjustment disorder following his father’s death caused him to think he was killing the devil.
However a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Heffernan three time said he knew what he was doing was wrong.
Eoin Ryan’s brother, Daniel Ryan delivered a powerful victim impact statement. “Our world ended on the 7th of June 2011. Each morning is begun with a jolt of pain as the memory of what happened to Eoin returns to us” he said.
“All our hopes for Eoin were destroyed in minutes by the barbaric actions of another just kilometres from our home.”