^{Ireland! 2026} ‘Highly qualified’ Laois woman placed on 12-month probation bond, What to know about the death of a Congolese man in Ireland, Self-styled ‘healer and fairy whisperer’ assaulted teenage girl on flight to US, Man who stabbed partner at least 13 times and hit her with lamp jailed for 12½ years, Man given suspended sentence for harassing female colleague with ‘relentless’ sexual innuendo, Gardaí investigating murder of Liam Murray begin searching land in Rathfarnham, Ireland’s youngest killers now eight years after Ana Kriégel’s brutal murder, Inside the ‘foul’ home of Richard Satchwell as he talked to TV reporter while his wife was buried feet away, Waterford man, 60s raped vulnerable teenage boy on beach, Mother of murdered Jastine Valdez passes away on visit to her grave – 8 years after killing that shocked Ireland, Man who attacked teen then claimed she lied about ‘b-t’ Donegal assault faces justice, Man wanted for the murder of Robbie Lawlor hit with €860k CAB bill, Explained: How to search through Census 1926 records, What happened to murder victim Emer O’Loughlin still haunts family 21 years on, Man who slit woman’s throat in Dublin hospitalised days after release from prison, Five jailed for ‘horrendous’ assault after victim waterboarded and beaten, Daniel Kinahan timeline: Arrest follows lengthy investigation spanning continents, Alleged Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan is arrested in Dubai, Daniel Kinahan trial in Ireland poses ‘unprecedented’ security concerns, COURT DRAMA ‘Tot kill’ Kinahan cartel hitman making solo appeal bid for freedom with guilty plea reversal & €75k attack compo case, Four in court over alleged Irish Defence Army ‘right-wing extremist’ Galway mosque plot, Garda give update on ‘unexplained’ death of Ballincollig woman Kelly Cremin, Cork sex offender sent lewd Snapchat to girl within 3 hours of prison release, Man tells trial he killed partner but cannot recall attack, Trial hears Adams pushed for ending of IRA ceasefire in 1996, Man (35) who beat his friend to death in drunken row found guilty of murder, American man Michael Kelley rearrested over murder of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine

Seamus Cooley repeatedly punched Shanan Reid McDaid in the face in a random assault on the 18-year-old in October 2017

A quantity surveyor has been jailed after launching a savage and unprovoked attack on a teenage woman in Donegal.

Seamus Cooley repeatedly punched Shanan Reid McDaid in the face in a random assault on the 18-year-old in October 2017.

Cooley, who has had addresses at The Grange, Letterkenny and St Jude’s Court, Lifford, was sentenced to four years in prison by Judge John Aylmer at Letterkenny Circuit Court.

The 51-year-old Cooley has 13 convictions, including 10 for public order matters, from the District Court and also one conviction for an aggravated assault from Northern Ireland.

The court heard that he walked off into the night after leaving his victim covered in blood at Castle Street, Letterkenny in the early hours of October 15, 2017.

The case was outlined to Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the State, by investigating Garda Neil Kemmy. Ms Reid McDaid had been out socialising with some friends and was walking up the Market Square to meet with friends. A man, now known to be Cooley was close by and he shouted some derogatory remarks to Ms Reid McDaid.

The victim reported that she noticed the man had stopped walking, but had continued to verbally taunt her. When she got within arm’s length of Cooley, he was facing her head-on and he stuck her to the face with a closed fist. Cooley rained a series of punches to Ms Reid McDaid’s face. The young woman estimated that she was struck eight-to-10 times by Cooley.

“He just left,” she later told Gardai. Ms Reid McDaid was able to give a detailed description of her attacker to Gardai. A friend of Ms Reid McDaid told how the woman told her pals “I have been hit”. The man said that Ms Reid McDaid’s face “didn’t look real”.

Ms Reid McDaid was taken to hospital, where injuries were found including a suspected broken nose, two chipped teeth, a cut to the side of the head, a sore jaw as well as swelling and bruising to her face.

A report from Mr Gerry Lane, a consultant in Letterkenny University Hospital, noted that the injuries were “entirely consistent with an assault”.

When Garda Kemmy saw the victim, her face and clothes were covered in blood, while he also noted chips to teeth and a cut to the side of her head.

CCTV was harvested and Cooley was identified by members of An Garda Síochána. A search warrant was obtained and executed at Cooley’s home, where a jacket was found and forensically analysed by Forensic Science Ireland. Blood staining with a profile matching the victim was located.

When he was interviewed by Gardai, Cooley was said to have been “extremely derogatory” towards Ms Reid McDaid and also to other women. He claimed to Gardai that she was a liar and outlined that forensics was “all nonsense”. He said the allegation against him was “bullshit” and claimed that the Gardai were planting evidence.

Cooley denied the attack and pointed the finger at another man when he was shown CCTV. “I am innocent and done nothing wrong,” he told Gardai, while he said he was prejudiced and discriminated against.

In a victim impact statement, which was read out by Ms Crawford, Ms Reid McDaid said that a night out in her home town with friends turned into a “life-altering event that had a lasting impact”. She told how she required dental intervention and was in pain for months afterwards.

Ms Reid McDaid said she suffered from physical injuries and was also at a significant financial loss, but said the most devastating impact was the emotional trauma. She told the court that she has had symptoms of PTSD and panic attacks, triggered by minor incidents.

“My body is stuck in a constant state of fight or flight,” she said, adding that she has avoided social settings and felt afraid in her own community.

The incident occurred just as she was starting university. She said that NUIG were “extremely supportive”, but she “always felt a few steps behind.

What made her ideal even harder was that it took almost eight years for Cooley to take accountability – something that made her feel as if justice was being denied.

“I had to carry the weight of it for so long,” she said. It made me angry, resentful and deeply frustrated.”

Ms Reid McDiad recalled how Cooley engaged with one of her social media platforms after she moved to Australia. This, she said, “deeply unsettled me and reopened old wounds.”

At this point, she feared that she “might not ever be truly free from his presence or reach” and noted the toll the matter took on her family.

Mr James McGowan SC, with Mr Senan Crawford BL, instructed by solicitor Conor Moylan of Madden & Finucane, represented Cooley.Mr McGowan said his client was bullied and troubled at home as a child. He said his childhood was “traumatic” and outlined difficulties with his parents

He said that Cooley reported that the atmosphere was “bad much of the time” and said Cooley, a qualified quantity surveyor, suffered from depression and had suicidal ideations.

Mr McGowan told the court that Cooley’s father died in 2017 and his client was binge drinking thereafter, suffering from a lot of anger and depression.

The incident for which he was before the court happened four months after the death of his father. Mr McGowan added that Cooley has since stopped drinking and his anger has “come down” since going sober. He said that Cooley reported that he “finally copped on”.

The court heard that Cooley had been subjected to some “distressing incidents”. Mr McGowan said there had been attacks on his home and car, while he was targeted by “intimidation and abuse” on social media. Mr McGowan said that Cooley is finding prison “difficult”.

Cooley offered €2,500 to the victim, but she did not wish to accept it, the court was informed. In sentencing Cooley, Judge Aylmer said the maximum penalty for such an offence at the time of its commission was five years in prison.

Judge Aylmer said this was a “random attack in the early hours of the morning on a lone, young female on her way home from a night out”.

Judge Aylmer said that the victim sustained a “very violent physical attack” and said she was “extremely fortunate” not to have suffered more serious physical injuries.

He noted the “appalling psychological impact” suffered by Ms Reid McDaid who he said “will be left suffering that impact for a very significant time to come.”

The appropriate headline sentence, Judge Aylmer said, was one of four and a half years in prison “This is very much on the upper end of the scale,” the judge said.

An albeit late guilty plea had to be given credit, while Judge Aylmer noted that Cooley has a “very complex psychological history”.

The mitigating factors were few, Judge Aylmer said, but he added that the accused had come to a realisation in 2025 and said it appeared as if he is now angered in “better self-regulation”. The judge told Cooley: “It better continue”.

Judge Aylmer took account of the offer of compensation, but said: “I would consider it to be far short of a true concrete demonstration of remorse from a quantity surveyor whose business has continued”.

Judge Aylmer reduced the sentence to one of four years in prison with credit to be given for all time spent in custody.

Last June, Cooley was remanded in custody after being found to have breached conditions of his bail when he appeared at Cavan Circuit Court.

In remanding Cooley in custody, Judge Aylmer said that Cooley “displayed arrogance” and showed a “flagrant disregard” for bail conditions previously set by the court.

Under the terms of his bail, Cooley was due to sign-on three times a week at Buncrana Garda Station, but he had only an 82 per cent adherence.

Cooley told the Gardai that he was happy with the amount of times he was signing on and that he was happy to sign on when it suited him. He told Gardai that he started working throughout the country and it “didn’t suit him some days” to sign on.

Jonathan Gill, who is wanted in Northern Ireland to face a charge that he murdered gangland figure Robbie Lawlor, has been hit with a liability of more than €860,000 by the Criminal Assets Bureau for unpaid taxes, a court heard.

The liability formed part of an objection by the State to Gill (44) being granted bail while he awaits a hearing which will decide whether he will be extradited to Northern Ireland to face the murder charge.

A garda cited several reasons, including access to large sums of cash and alleged links to organised crime, as to why he believes Gill poses a flight risk if he is granted bail ahead of that hearing on June 3rd.

Gemma McLoughlin Burke BL, for Gill, argued that the €860,000 liability is largely made up of interest payments for income tax going back to 2005.

She said her client is still in negotiations regarding the income tax he owes and the liability with CAB.

Judge Patrick McGrath did not rule on the bail application but adjourned the hearing to June 3rd to allow Ms McLoughlin-Burke to clarify what taxes Gill has paid in that period.

Det Gda Robert Cumerford told Leanora Frawley BL, for the State, that Mr Gill was arrested following the issue of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement warrant by the Northern Irish authorities.

The warrant alleges that Mr Gill, of Malahide Road, Clontarf, on Dublin’s northside was part of a joint enterprise to murder Robert Lawlor on April 4th 2020.

The murder of Lawlor, the detective said, arose out of an ongoing feud involving criminal gangs from Dublin, Drogheda, and Sligo in which several key personalities have been killed.

Gardaí believe Lawlor murdered Drogheda teenager Keane Mulready Woods, whose remains were dismembered before being discovered in various locations.

Gill faces a further charge that between April 2nd and 5th 2020 he possessed a 9mm self-loading pistol with the intent to endanger life or cause serious property damage or to allow another person to do so.

Det Gda Cumerford cited in his objection to bail the seriousness of the charges, both of which carry a potential life sentence, and the weight of the evidence as detailed by the PSNI in the warrant.

He said allegations that Mr Gill has links to organised crime create further concerns that he has the means to leave the country.

The detective further cited a liability Gill has with the Criminal Assets Bureau CAB for more than €860,000. Det Gda Cumerford said the liability indicates that Gill has access to large sums of cash, which could be used to leave the country.

The detective said that while Mr Gill had filed an affidavit claiming to have worked “for many years” for his own company, Jonathan Gill Mediation, CAB has said he has not filed a tax return since 2005.

The detective said there was also a concern that Gill could have access to what gardaí call a “false genuine passport”. In 2009, he said, a man applied for a passport using his own name and a genuine birth certificate but with Gill’s photograph attached.

When gardaí investigated, the man to whom the passport was issued denied having made the application or receiving the passport.

The passport was never found, and Gill also denied any knowledge of it. The Director of Public Prosecution opted not to prosecute, he said.

The detective further cited an article by journalist Nicola Tallant alleging that Gill applied for residency in the United Arab Emirates but was denied.

The court heard that Gill’s father, John Gill, had offered an independent surety of €100,000 for his son’s bail.

John and Catherine Gill both took the stand to say they understood the nature of the charges against their son and the responsibility placed on them.

They said Jonathan would live with them and they would call gardaí if he breached any of the conditions of his bail.

They said the €100,000 was available to them as they recently sold an apartment and Catherine received a substantial settlement following an “accident”.

The State accepted that the surety was suitable and legitimate.

Catherine Gill asked the judge to grant bail, saying her son “definitely will be here every time you want him”. She said: “There is no way he is going to abscond. He has children, he has a young child, he is going nowhere.”

In submissions for the State, Ms Frawley said the evidence establishes that Gill has access to large amounts of money which the court can be satisfied comes from an unlawful source.

She said there is further evidence that he is linked to organised crime and suggested the court could infer that a person looking to obtain a ‘false genuine passport’ is “seeking to leave the jurisdiction under another identity”.

While the State accepts that Gill’s father is a suitable surety and the €100,000 is legitimate, Ms Frawley said the court must weigh up all the factors.

In response, Ms McLoughlin Burke said the State was “scraping the barrel” in its objections.

She said her client has ties to the jurisdiction through his parents, siblings, and children, and the independent surety offered is substantial.

She said there is no evidence her client had any involvement in the application for a false passport and asked the court to consider as irrelevant the newspaper article regarding an alleged application for residency in the United Arab Emirates.

Any further concerns can be dealt with by conditions, she said, including that her client would observe a curfew and sign on twice daily at a garda station.

The complainant said that after the incident he felt “dirty, used and violated” and described it having a physical and mental impact on him

A man who raped a 16-year-old boy on a Waterford beach after meeting him on a dating app has been jailed for four years.

Neil Elliott (63) of Milestone Cottage, Cheekpoint, Waterford, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to section four oral rape of the boy, who was under the care of the State at the time, on August 8, 2022 in Tramore, Waterford. Further charges of anal rape and oral rape were taken into account.

Garda Edel O’Sullivan told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were contacted at 9.30pm on the evening in question by social care workers who were responsible for the teenager that weekend while they were at a caravan park.

They said he had left the holiday home in a distressed state and they were concerned for his well-being.

Gardaí arrived 30 minutes later and after a short search of the local area, they met Elliott and the teenager walking up the beach. They identified themselves to gardaí and the teenager said he was fine, while Elliott told him they were friends and had been out walking.

The teenager was returned to the care of his social workers and immediately reported that he had engaged in oral sex with Elliott. He said he had told the accused he was 16, while Elliott later claimed he believed the teenager was 17 years old.

The teenager said he had been on a dating app and had met with Elliott. They had sent photographs to each other and had been communicating for a short period of time. He had got a text from Elliott that day asking if they could meet up.

The teenager later said to gardaí he told Elliott “no” during the sexual interaction with him. He said he “almost passed out” during the anal rape and said he did try to tell Elliott “no” but he didn’t stop.

He claimed that he told Elliott he was 16 and the accused replied: “It was OK as long as you are nearly 17.”

He said Elliott told him: “I am not going to stop – you are a good boy”.

Elliott was arrested that same evening. He provided his mobile phone number, email address and relevant passwords. He has no previous convictions.

A victim impact statement was read into the record.

The complainant said that after the incident he felt “dirty, used and violated” and described it having a physical and mental impact on him. He said he turned to drugs and drink and later was diagnosed as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He said he won’t go anywhere on his own, adding: “I should have been in a safe place.”

“I hope he gets what he deserves and he doesn’t do this to anyone else,” the victim concluded his statement.

Colman Cody SC, defending, acknowledged that there was a disparity in age between the accused and the teenager. He further acknowledged that the victim was “vulnerable in the care system” but he told the court that Elliott said he was not aware the teenager was under State care at the time.

Mr Cody said the teenager initiated contact and accepted that Elliott maintained that contact and arranged the meeting.

Counsel accepted his client made no admissions during garda interview but asked the court to accept that he co operated with the gardaí.

He further accepted that the victim was waiting some time before it was confirmed that Elliott was going to plead guilty.

Counsel said his client had written a letter of apology to the victim in which he said he was sorry for putting the teenager through this and apologised for the fact that the teenager “got caught up with my life at the time”.

Mr Cody handed in a forensic psychological report for the court’s consideration. He said his client had an unremarkable childhood and had a consistent history of employment.

He said Elliott never had a significant relationship and was attracted to both men and women. He said he had been caring for his mother for eight years before she died. He then began to engage in online communication with others, which he found helped to alleviate his grief.

Mr Cody said Elliott accepts that it was not appropriate for a man in his 60s to communicate with a teenager.

“It was a catastrophic error of judgement,” Mr Cody said.

Counsel said his client has no history of violence, no convictions for sexual offences and does not have difficulties with empathy. He said he has been assessed as a “low average risk of re-offending”.

Mr Justice Paul Burns noted that while the teenager claimed to be 18 years old in order to access the dating app, his bio on that app clearly stated that he was 16 years old. He said anyone accessing the app would have known the true age of the teenager.

He set a headline sentence of eight years taking into account the fact that Elliott would have been aware of the young age of the complainant and that he subjected him to “a rough and aggressive ordeal involving both anal and oral rape”.

Mr Justice Burns also noted that from Elliott’s appearance in court he was a “relatively well built man” which he said was a consideration in the context of the offending behaviour also.

He acknowledged that Elliott’s plea of guilty was “valuable” as it saved the victim the ordeal of “an unpredictable trial process” and that it also recognises the harm his behaviour has caused to the victim.

Mr Justice Burns also acknowledged that Elliott was deemed to be below average risk of re-offending, has no history of engagement with minors and that custody would be a particularly difficult time for him given his age and mental health difficulties.

He imposed a sentence of five years with the final year suspended on strict conditions including that Elliott engage with the Probation Service for three years upon his release from prison. He said due to this supervision order there is no need for the imposition of additional post release supervision.

Tess’s tragic death happened while she was on a trip to the Philippines – where she was visiting her daughter’s grave in November of last year

The mother of murder victim Jastine Valdez died while on a trip to visit her daughter’s grave in the Philippines, it has emerged.

Tragic Jastine (24), who had moved with her parents to Ireland in search of a better life, was kidnapped and brutally murdered by monster Mark Hennessy in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow on May 19, 2018.

Now as her loved ones are preparing to mark eight years since the senseless crime, the Irish Mirror has learned that Jastine’s mother Tess sadly passed away, several months ago.

Tess’s tragic death, which has gone unreported until now, occurred while she was on a trip to the Philippines – where she was visiting her daughter’s grave in November of last year.

Jastine’s remains had been repatriated to the Philippines after the horrific murder that saw Hennessy kill her and dump her remains at Puck’s Castle in the Dublin Mountains – before he was ultimately shot and killed by an armed Garda.

It is understood Tess had been quietly battling cancer as she and her husband Danilo continued to grieve their daughter and tried to live and work in Ireland.

However now it is understood that heartbroken Danilo has decided to remain in the Philippines following the tragic death of his wife.

When contacted by the Irish Mirror, the former Philippine Consul to Ireland, Raymond Garrett, who was a friend of Tess, paid tribute to a woman who had incredible strength despite suffering so much pain.

“After the loss of Jastine, she carried a pain that no parent should ever have to face. Yet, through all of that unimaginable trauma, she never gave up. Her faith in God, her courage and her quiet strength were remarkable,” he said.

“In the years after Jastine’s passing, Tess faced many difficult personal and health challenges, but she kept fighting, supported with great love and devotion by her husband, Danny, who has also shown enormous courage and strength.

“In the time that followed, I was proud to call Tess a friend. She showed what it means to keep going when life has taken more than anyone should ever be asked to bear. Tess will be remembered with deep respect, not only as Jastine’s mother, but as a strong and loving woman who left a lasting mark on those who knew her,” he added.

Another friend, Vanda Brady, told the Irish Mirror of her heartbreak at Tess’s death, and spoke of her and Jastine’s father Danilo’s incredible strength.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Thessie Valdez, the mother of Jastine Valdez. I stayed in touch with the family following Jastine’s murder in 2018. I last spoke with Thessie in August 2025 when I invited her and her husband Danny to the Philippine National Heroes event and to meet the new Philippine Ambassador to Ireland. “During the event, I paid tribute to Jastine’s memory and to the remarkable strength and dignity her parents showed through unimaginable loss,” she said.

“Despite everything they endured, Thessie and Danny always carried themselves with grace, courage, and deep love for their daughter. My thoughts and prayers are with the Valdez family at this very difficult time.”

Jastine’s parents, who have always wanted her to be remembered, have paid tribute to her time and again in powerful statements issued to this paper on a number of anniversaries.

In a statement issued to us two years ago they said: “Thinking of you each day with an aching heart. So we whisper and call your name every time just to ease the pain of losing you. The shock and the trauma still lingers. We are trying to live our best to fill the void.

“The emptiness that you left and that no one can feel. We love you and missing you terribly Jastine our princes.”

Evil Mark Hennessy snatched and murdered Jastine because he is believed to have been infatuated with her – even rehearsing her abduction beforehand.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the frantic search for Jastine, retired detective superintendent Frank Keenaghan previously told us that he believed Hennessy sexually assaulted the student before murdering her – and dumping her in heavy gorse in south County Dublin.

The respected former senior garda told us how emergency workers begged Hennessy to tell them where he had hidden Jastine – as they fought to save his life after a Garda detective shot him at the end of a 24-hour manhunt.

“Mark was on the ground being treated and I know that one or two of the ambulance people were there imploring him to tell us where she was. But there was no response,” Mr Keenaghan said.

Hennessy was shot dead by an armed garda in the Cherrywood Industrial estate after it was believed he was harming himself or even Jastine in the car he was in.

After Hennessy died, gardai discovered a note in the car which contained the words “Pucks Castle,” – the location where they ultimately found Jastine’s remains.

An inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court into Jastine’s death, the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

At the time Detective Superintendent Frank Keeneghan said that gardaí had carried out extensive examinations of the phones and social media profiles of Ms Valdez and Hennessy.No prior link between them was discovered.

The cause of death, according to deputy state pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan, was asphyxia through external pressure on the neck.

Ms Valdez’s boyfriend Joseph Squire said that she never took drugs and ‘was way too innocent for anything like that’.

‘The image of that beautiful young woman remains with us,’ coroner Dr Myra Cullinane told the inquest.

‘It is inconceivable how her parents can bear the loss of their only child. We’ve had a glimpse of the person that Jastine was and it is tragic that she’s been so cruelly taken in this way.’

Eight years on from the horrific murder of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel, we look back at the harrowing case and the lives of Ireland’s youngest killers, Boy A and Boy B, who remain in prison today

Ireland’s youngest killers have now reached 21 years of age—and will eventually be released from custody following a crime that devastated the nation eight years ago this week.

Their victim was Ana Kriégel, 14, who was deceived into visiting a derelict farmhouse in Lucan, Dublin on May 14 2018, where she was sexually assaulted and fatally attacked with a piece of timber and a large block.

As another painful anniversary approaches, we revisit the disturbing case, while examining what became of the two former best mates who made history as the youngest individuals in Ireland ever found guilty of murder.

Who was Ana Kriégel?
The schoolgirl hailed originally from Russia but was adopted aged two. Her parents were Irishwoman Geraldine and French-born Patric. She was portrayed as someone who longed to belong but found friendships difficult. She loved creating YouTube videos for her channel, which had attracted around 100 subscribers, featuring content about dance, fashion and cosmetics.

Certain comments beneath these videos were unkind and, throughout a six-week murder trial, her mother characterised her as vulnerable, disclosing she was receiving counselling.

Ana also excelled at swimming and gymnastics, though Geraldine told the court of her daughter: “She was very immature. She looked so much older, but inside she was younger, far younger than her youth.”

She continued: “She was trying to make friends all the time. She spent a lot of time at the house, she loved her family and was happy at home. It would have been nicer for her to have a best friend.”

Ana’s father, a retired lecturer who has since passed away, recalled how his daughter’s primary school years were “very happy”, though secondary school brought challenges with bullying.

Speaking to the court, he said: “She would come home and tell stories and they were not happy stories. They were calling her weird. Some people did not understand her. She was herself. She was full of fun.

“She couldn’t hate anyone even though some of these people were bullying her. She was disappointed in people, in how they reacted to her. She would try and make friends. She was impulsive and might say the wrong thing. She was a teenager.”

On that fateful morning when Ana vanished, Geraldine kissed her daughter goodbye before school – a moment that would tragically be their final goodbye.

Who were her killers?
The killers have been identified only as Boy A and Boy B, having been granted lifelong anonymity under the Children Act – offering considerable relief to both the teenagers and their families.

Yet despite being convicted of murder at just 15 years old, both families were ultimately forced to relocate from their west Dublin communities, as neighbours throughout the area knew precisely who they were. Gardaí discovered 12,500 pornographic images on two devices in Boy A’s bedroom.

It emerged that he had also searched terms like “horse porn”, “animal porn” along with “dead boy prank in abandoned haunted school”.

On a sunny day in May 2018, he lay in wait at Glenwood House, which remains cordoned off to this day, while his best friend, Boy B, went to collect Ana Kriégel.

Boy A had assembled what’s been described as a murder kit, comprising gloves, knee pads, shin guards, and he donned a sinister mask.

While he remained there, Boy B travelled to Ana’s home in Leixlip. After Boy B, who is said to have come from a stable family background, told her his friend fancied her, she informed her father she was going out.

Boy A then assaulted and killed Ana while Boy B witnessed the appalling incident.

Three days afterwards, clothed only in a pair of socks, her body was discovered with a ligature wrapped around her neck in the abandoned property within the verdant grounds of St Catherine’s Park.

The cause of death was subsequently confirmed as blunt force trauma to the head and neck following the identification of 50 separate injury sites.

Boy B was interviewed by gardaí in Finglas, where he slept on a mattress alongside his mother as he was too young to remain in a cell unaccompanied. He was also permitted breaks from questioning during which he consumed Ribena.

When asked why he didn’t step in to assist Ana, he stated: “Because I was scared. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do, because my brain was frozen in place. I didn’t know what to do.”

When asked a similar question about why he failed to intervene, Boy B, who admitted feeling ashamed at his inaction, responded: “I don’t know.”

Following the six-week trial, both boys were convicted of murder. Boy A faced the additional charge of aggravated sexual assault, of which he was also found guilty.

Boy A received a life sentence with a review after 12 years, while Boy B was handed a 15-year sentence.

What became of Boy A and Boy B?
Throughout the court proceedings, the former close friends avoided looking at one another. Boy A, who displayed little remorse and never admitted to the crime, frequently rested his head on his father’s shoulder, while Boy B clung to his mother’s hand throughout.

The pair were initially held together at Oberstown Children Detention Centre in Dublin, with Boy B requesting Lego just weeks into his sentence. Both are now aged 21 and are serving their time in an adult prison.

Due to their anonymity, little is publicly known about their lives, though both reportedly sat their Leaving Certs and were offered the chance to enrol with the Open University online. Upon his eventual release, Boy A will be subject to sex offenders monitoring.

Anna’s father passed away peacefully at home in 2022, having previously said of his daughter’s killers’ convictions at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court: “Forever. It’s not enough.”

In 2023, Boy B’s father spoke to the Irish Mail on Sunday, describing his son as a “stupid, stupid boy” while insisting he was not “this monster that people are calling him”. He also conveyed his sympathy towards the Kriégel family and stated he wishes to “throw myself down on my knees and beg them for forgiveness”.

Regarding his son, he maintained he should have saved Ana’s life, though he does not believe he is a murderer.

He continued: “He is being punished because he was too much of a coward to tell me what happened. He was too weak and afraid to be able to say what happened on that day.

“I know this boy. He is not what they say he is. He is not this monster.”

Meanwhile, Boy A is now seeking to challenge his life sentence for Ana’s murder.

His legal team informed the Court of Appeal in March that the case would require “document-heavy analysis” after requesting additional time before an appeal hearing date could be scheduled.

A new book details the lies and manipulation of the Youghal killer

A new book from the former RTE reporter who interviewed Richard Satchwell – inside the home where he had killed and entombed his wife Tina – details the dark lies and manipulation behind the terrible crime.

Former RTE Primetime reporter Barry Cummins was one of the few journalists to be invited inside the home in Youghal where Satchwell hid his secret for five years. The full time-line of the case – which you can see here – shows how the muderer went to extreme lengths to hide what he had done.

A new book from former RTE man Cummins details the bizarre encounters he had with Richard Satchwell, who invited him into his foul-smelling home in Youghal in the months after his wife Tina supposedly ‘vanished’ in March, 2017.

The brazen killer, who murdered his wife and hid her body under the stairs where it remained undiscovered for six and a half years, maintained a lie to the RTE reporter and many others that Tina had simply walked out of the home and was never seen again.

Now following Satchwell’s conviction for the murder, Barry has penned a new book Buried Secrets: The Murder of Tina Satchwell and a Journalist’s Journey Into Ireland’s Most Chilling Court Case – chronicling his bizarre encounters with the killer, who repeatedly lied – all while tragic Tina was lying in a grave dug under the stairs of his home.

“One of the weird things—he wouldn’t let us film this—but he invited us upstairs to see the walk-in wardrobes he told us he had built for Tina as part of their anniversary present,” Barry told the Irish Mirror in an exclusive interview for the Shattered Lives podcast today.

“He was walking us above Tina’s body. That’s chilling to think of and why was he doing this? He could have said no to any reporter, but he let me in and I don’t know why. It stays with you, the manipulation he was doing.”

Barry was invited into the Satchwell home in November 2017 – during which time the killer brought him past the crypt he had dug for his wife, and through rooms filled with parrot and dog poo.

“I could smell the dog shit and the parrot poo when I was in the house. That was unpleasant,” Barry said.

“We turned right just before the stairs into the living room and then he directed us to turn right again into the sitting room. I know there was clutter in the living room but it was dark as well so you couldn’t see too much. We were able to do an interview in there but it was still very cluttered. The parrot cage with the parrot Valentine in it was over in the corner. The one thing I remember was how dusty it was in the room. There were two flies that flew around occasionally in the room. There was no air in the room and that was the room we were in mostly.

“The curtains had been pulled in the front room but there was the sensation of it being dark and dusty. I was trying to figure out, well, maybe this man sitting beside me can’t really function without her. Then I’m thinking I can smell the dog shit; I can see the parrot cage with poo stuck on the bars. I was juxtaposing this with how he was talking lovingly about the dogs and the parrot and looking over and thinking, “Well, you haven’t cleaned your parrot cage in a while.”

Barry conducted four interviews with Satchwell over the course of several months – all of which were played during the murder trial last year. The jury got to see the interviews as the prosecution sought to show them the repeated lies he had told the media about his missing wife – all while she lay hidden in the home.

“I ended up in the middle of the courtroom and I did in the corner of my eye steal a glimpse of Richard Satchwell as the report was being played and he never looked up. He kept his head down. It was myself and Richard up on the screen in all these interactions going for walks and he in my car, and also me in his home and looking through photos of Tina and him looking at different items of Tina’s like her nail varnish. The house was frozen in time in a sense. But he never looked up. He never looked up at the report.

“I’m not someone who’s stuck for words normally. But that day after the report was played in court I didn’t know what to say because it was a very odd situation.

“I never intended when I set out to do these interviews or a television report that these would one day be used as evidence in the Central Criminal Court. That’s not my job. I certainly wanted to get the truth of something – but to see it up there and being used by the prosecution to be part of their case that this man obviously lied, but the motivation, his demeanour, his whole way of going on – and the callousness of having a camera crew in the house and the lies that just fell out of his mouth routinely in those interviews.”

Satchwell told Cummins and others that his wife had left the house having taken €26,000 in cash and two suitcases – and that she’d gone away to “get her head straight.”

“All of these yarns and he was looking me in the eye and saying all this. The more I interviewed him and the more I met him I felt I got a different Richard,” Barry added.

In later interviews Satchwell began sowing the seeds of a narrative he was privately telling gardai – a lie that his missing wife had been abusing him. Looking back now, Barry recalls how the killer began to feed him the suggestion that Tina might have been violent.

“In the fourth meeting he’s talking about Tina that if somebody sought to attack her, she would defend herself. And this is coming out, like in his previous meetings he wouldn’t even countenance that any harm had come to Tina. Yet there he was in the fourth meeting starting to have you thinking that this small woman would fight back. This was the picture he was painting in my mind as he was doing this interview.”

Barry also recalls Satchwell’s disturbing body language – and how the killer had a way of staring at him that he’s not seen in many people before or since.

“He was able to do that thing of staring at somebody so it would get a bit uncomfortable. It’s now looking back at what we now know and what he had done and the lies he was telling me and other journalists and the manipulating he was doing, that this kind of staring – was he trying to figure out what I felt about him?”

And he feels that Satchwell, who often presented as meek and dim-witted, was far more intelligent than he might have let on.

“I think he was more clever than people felt at the time. Over the four interviews I began to feel there was more to Richard. He seemed to have secrets. He seemed to like control. He seemed to love saying to me there are reasons why Tina might have left but I can’t tell you because I don’t want to betray her confidence,” Barry said.

“He was looking to draw me in and feed me little bits of information. His speech pattern would throw you a little bit. He would say ‘lickle’ instead of little, ‘pacific’ instead of specific.

“Even his demeanour – he was a big man but he would hunch himself. I noticed this just as his physical disposition would round his shoulders a bit; I felt so he would look less threatening. Also his speech pattern: he was always low. He seemed to be maintaining that all the time. It wasn’t natural. I felt he was trying to keep control of himself. But still at the end of it all in the absence of any evidence of a crime I was still trying to keep in my mind’s eye – what if it’s not him?”

Garrett Pollock (35), Karolis Peckauskas (38), Charles Flynn (35), and Darren Gorman (33), all appeared before a sitting of Portlaoise District Court

Four men have appeared in court charged over an alleged “violent right-wing extremist” plot to target a mosque in Co Galway.

Garrett Pollock (35), Karolis Peckauskas (38), Charles Flynn (35), and Darren Gorman (33), all appeared before a sitting of Portlaoise District Court, charged with a variety of offences related to an alleged attempt to set fire to the mosque in November of last year.

The court also later heard that gardai had information that other people with similar views to one of the accused had attempted to identify the home address of an investigating officer involved in the case.

In objecting to bail for three of the accused, gardaí played a video in court showing four men wearing balaclavas standing in front of a tricolour in what gardai allege is Mr. Gorman’s kitchen at O’Moore Place, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, around 9pm on November 4 last year. In the video a masked speaker claims they are the “Irish Defence Army” and are responsible for the “destruction” of the Galway mosque. Gardai would later tell the court that the group poses a threat to migrants and members of the Islamic community, and were planning further attacks.

In the video the man states that this won’t be the group’s last attack and described their philosophy as “an eye for an eye. A speaker in the video, goes on to say that they “simply do not care” and that this will not be their last attack. They also indicate in the video that their threats apply to anyone who has helped facilitate the erection of IPAS centres—and that they vow to rid Ireland of migrants.

Charles Flynn, 35, of Castlerock Avenue in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, appeared before the court charged with attempting to engage in terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity by attempting to damage the Maryam Mosque in Galway by fire. A Detective Garda with the Special Detective Unit, who cannot be identified by court order, said that Mr. Flynn responded “I apologise for my actions,” when charged after caution.

Darren Gorman (33) of O’Moore Place in Portlaoise, Co Laois meanwhile was also charged with attempting to engage in terror activity or a terrorist-linked activity by attempting to damage the Maryam Mosque in Galway by fire on November 4th and 5th last. A Detective Garda with the Special Detective Unit said the accused made “no reply” when charged after caution.

In objecting to bail, gardai said the alleged offence in relation to the terror charge carries a term of up to 10 years. He said Mr Gorman was stopped and searched and brought to Portlaoise Garda station. Four threaded pipe ends and bottles of hydrogen peroxide were recovered inside the vehicle, the Garda said. He said an examination of devices “strongly indicate” a plan to manufacture explosive devices.

He said that documents seized indicated that Mr Gorman was involved in the “planning of a “terrorist attack” on behalf of a group called the ‘Irish Defence Army.’ Gardai, he said, had located a manifesto document which outlined the intent of the group in the boot of a vehicle.

He said a Garda examination of a device belonging to one of the co-accused discovered a video featuring four masked men – one of whom they alleged was Mr Gorman. The group in the video say they are the Irish Defence Army and claim responsibility for an attack on the mosque in Galway, stating that they are responsible for its “destruction.”

The Detective Garda told the court that gardai found “strong evidence” that an attack on the Galway mosque was “imminent” and that Mr. Gorman was a member of a “violent right-wing extremist group” involved in planning further terrorist attacks. Evidence gathered from the video recovered indicated that the group intended to further target other mosques and IPAS centres if the Galway attack was successful, the court was told.

In objecting to bail for Mr Flynn, another Detective Garda also outlined that he believed the accused was a member of this “violent right-wing extremist group.” He said the group “identified IPAS centres as legitimate targets.”

Similar evidence was given in relation to the devices found in the vehicle, the manifesto, and the video played in court. The Detective Garda alleged in court that it was clear that Mr Flynn was involved in the manufacture of explosive devices. He said he believed if granted bail the applicant would fail to answer given the seriousness of the charge – and that he would “continue his affiliation” with a violent right wing group.

During the bail hearing Mr Flynn spoke up in court and said “do I not get a chance to talk?”

After frequent commentary from the accused Judge Cody said “this is not a Judge Judy court,” and told them to stay silent. Defence Counsel for Mr Gorman said his client has young children, resides with his family and is in receipt of a disability allowance. He was arrested originally in November 2025 and had no further dealings with gardai until today. He “denies the charges before the court,” Counsel said and was going to defend his position. Mr Gorman has “long-standing” mental health issues, he added.

Counsel for Mr Flynn said he has a young family and resides in Limerick – a “considerable distance from the mosque in question.” He said the evidence against his client largely comprises of implements found in the car that he’s not a registered owner of. His ties to this come from the video seen in court, he said. He said Mr Flynn has a possible avenue to object to the evidence brought against him, citing that it was circumstantial in nature.

A Detective Sergeant said the evidence will show the video was recorded on November 4th at approximately 9pm. The traffic stop was at approximately 11pm, two hours later – and they were arrested at approximately 1am on November 5th.

Mr. Peckauskas (38), with an address on Newfoundwell Road in Drogheda, Co. Louth, is charged with possessing a hunting knife, two hatchets and a knuckle duster in a silver BMW vehicle alleged to be his at O’Moore Place in Portlaoise, Co. Laois, on November 4 last. It is allehed he intended to use these to incapaciate a perosn during terorrist activity.

He is further charged with attempting to engage in a terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity by damage by fire to the Maryam Mosque in Galway on the 4th and 5th of November that year.

Giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution, a Detective Garda from the Special Detective Unit who cannot be identified, said the accused replied, “Not mine,” regarding the possession charges after caution, and, “Was not mentioned in the video,” regarding the terror charge. Mr Peckauskas did not apply for bail and was remanded into custody.

Garrett Pollock (35) with an address at Kilhorne Green, Annalong in Co Down, is charged with attempting to engage in a terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity by attempting to damage by fire the Maryam Mosque in Galway in an offence motivated by hatred on November 4th and 5th of last year.

He is also further accused of knowingly having in his possession an explosive substance in a Citroen Dispatch van at An Tobar, Newfoundwell Road in Drogheda, Co Louth on November 4th last year. He is also charged with having two hatchets, a hunting knife and a knuckle duster in his possession that he intended to use to incapacitate or intimidate a person during a terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity.

In objecting to bail in relation to Mr Pollock, a Detective Garda who cannot be identified said that three pipe end caps and bottles of hydrogen peroxide, plumbers putty, two axes, a knuckle duster and a hunting knife were all found in a car he was stopped in.

An examination of devices indicated that Mr Pollock had knowledge of and was planning a terrorist attack, the Garda told the court. The accused man, he said, made admissions in relation to the items found in the vehicle.

The Det Gda also outlined that it is alleged Mr Pollock is one of the masked men speaking in the video, reading a statement with the intention to “take violent action.”

Mr Pollock’s DNA was subsequently found on two balaclavas which were recovered from the vehicle, the Garda said. The accused man holds an “anti-Islamic” view and has no regard for the law of this country, the Garda further alleged, and he has “no ties” to the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Pollock is a “participant” in a violent right-wing organisation, and officers have obtained information that persons with “similar right-wing beliefs” as him have attempted to ascertain the address of an investigating officer involved in this investigation, the Garda told the court.

He told the court that gardai are concerned that Mr Pollock is a flight risk even without a passport as he could “easily take a ferry from the North to the mainland UK.” Gardai are also concerned that he may use “criminal or right-wing connections to leave the jurisdiction.”

In ruling against bail for all three men, Judge Cody said that after viewing the video several times “I am satisfied that the threats are real and intended.” He said therefore he was satisfied that the prosecution had established that refusal was needed “to prevent the commission of further serious offences.”

He remanded all four accused into custody – to appear next before the court on March 23rd by video link. The court heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed a trial on indictment – and that a venue is awaited.

A former British Army intelligence officer has told the Gerry Adams civil trial in London that the former Sinn Féin president pushed for the ending of the IRA ceasefire with bombs in England in 1996.

Retired Brigadier Ian Liles told the court that the bombs were intended to force the British government into political concessions.

Mr Adams is being sued in the High Court in London by three victims of separate IRA bomb attacks in 1973 and 1996 who claim he was directly responsible.

Ian Liles is the last of 11 witnesses to be called by the prosecution team in the case.

He was appointed battalion intelligence officer in 1982 and held the role until his retirement in 1990.

In his witness statement, he said that during that time he was privy to a great deal of “high-grade intelligence” including military and police reports showing that Gerry Adams “was a leader within the Belfast PIRA and held various command and support appointments”.

Mr Liles said he saw many intelligence reports at the time of the Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996 that said Gerry Adams believed it was the best time “to take the war to the Brits”.

“Adams wanted the PIRA to cause whatever havoc they could on the mainland, Germany and elsewhere to reap the political benefits and send a message to the British that the PIRA were not spent, and to force the weary British into concessions,” his statement adds.

“The hope from the PIRA was that the 1996 bombings would leverage pressure on the British because they knew the government would not tolerate attacks on the mainland at this point in the conflict; it would not have been ‘an acceptable level of violence’.

“The targets chosen in London and Manchester were deliberately high-profile targets to put this pressure on the UK government, cause economic pain to the UK and gain maximum publicity.”

He added that there was simply no way the bomb attacks in England in 1996 “could have happened without the oversight and approval of Mr Adams”.

The witness also alleges that Mr Adams was involved in the Bloody Friday bombings in Belfast city centre in July 1972 in which nine people were killed, and that he authorised the attack on the La Mon hotel in which 12 people were killed in February 1978.

He told the court that the British army and MI5 had recruited agents who were close to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness, including Freddie Scappaticci, the former agent known as Stakeknife.

Earlier, the court heard from journalist John Ware.

IRA members were angered by Adams’ denials, court hears

A journalist who spent decades reporting on the Troubles told the trial that IRA members he interviewed were angered by his repeated denials that he was a member of the organisation.

John Ware worked for the Sun newspaper, ITV and the BBC, specialising in security issues.

Based on conversations with former IRA members and police sources, he said he believes Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA army council for more than 30 years from the late 1970s and was “one of the single most influential strategists in the Republican movement”.

The former Louth TD and West Belfast MP has repeatedly denied ever being a member of the IRA and strenuously denies the allegations against him.

The journalist said the driving force behind IRA members speaking to him for one of his documentaries about Mr Adams was their anger at his “brazen, unequivocal, and unambiguous denial of his role in the PIRA [Provisional IRA]”.

His witness statement adds: “It clearly grated with many of them that when Adams said that he strongly supported the armed struggle, his denial of actual PIRA membership allowed him to avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions.

“They believed it was a slippery way of Adams avoiding personal responsibility for the death and destruction caused by the PIRA’s violence, which he had either ordered in the operational phase of his PIRA membership, and later in his strategic phase as a member of the PIRA army council.”

Questioned by a lawyer representing Mr Adams, the witness confirmed that he had no first-hand personal knowledge of who was responsible for the three bombings cited in this case.

Asked about his reporting which exposed collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, Mr Ware agreed that he was on record as saying MI5 and the British army had made statements about the issue that were not true.

Edward Craven KC told the court there had been a pattern of dissemination of false information by the British army, the RUC and MI5.

Mr Ware said he was giving evidence in the trial for public interest reasons, stating that it was his belief that it is “manifestly not the case that Gerry Adams was never a member of the IRA”.

He said it would be wrong “for history to record that Mr Adams was never a member of the IRA when it is perfectly clear to me, my colleagues and scores and scores of people” that he was.

A man accused of the murder of his partner who was stabbed to death told his trial today that he killed her but doesn’t remember doing it despite previously telling gardaí she had died by suicide.

31-year-old Adam Corcoran was giving evidence on the sixth day of his trial for the murder of his partner Daena Walsh at their home in Midleton on 2 August 2024.

He has also pleaded not guilty to arson.

Warning: Some readers may find details in this report distressing

In cross-examination at the Central Criminal Court in Cork today, he also denied trying to dismember her body before trying to set their home on fire.

Earlier, he told Defence Counsel Brendan Grehan SC that the deceased had a knife with a red handle in her right hand that afternoon in their kitchen.

She was self-harming, he claimed, shouting at him that he was cheating on her and she was “sick of it, she was going to end it all”.

Mr. Corcoran claimed “she was swinging at him”. He said he grabbed her by the wrist “she was hitting me and headbutting me, she was lashing out. I didn’t know where the knife was. I started lashing out at her, she fell over, I was on top of her”.

He told Defence Counsel Brendan Grehan SC he “hit her twice in the chest, she stopped moving. I was out of breath. I was very dizzy. When I came around, I felt wet on my t-shirt and the red knife was in my hand, she pulled at it. I dropped the knife, it was going to hit her face so I grabbed it”.

He told Mr Grehan that he ran from the flat, but returned with a neighbour and then called 999.

“I didn’t know what happened. I told the operator I thought she committed suicide,” he told Mr. Grehan.

Asked if he remembered telling Det. Inspector Cormac O’Bric that he tried to save her and that she said “I love you so much, it wasn’t your fault”, Mr. Corcoran said he couldn’t remember anything he said to the guard.

Asked what his position was now on all the different injuries she had, Mr. Corcoran replied to Mr. Grehan “I must have done (sic)”.

Asked if he intended to kill her, he replied “no”.Asked if he loved her, he said “very much”. Asked if he knew how the fire started, he said “no”.

In follow-up cross-examination, Prosecution Senior Counsel Donal O’Sullivan asked Mr. Corcoran if he had been acting in self-defence. Mr. Corcoran replied “no”.

He asked him if he was saying it was an accident. He said “no”.

Mr. O’Sullivan asked him about his claims of dropping the knife during the fight. Mr. Corcoran said what happened was “as it fell I caught it and on the swing of the catch, it went into her arm where there was already a cut”.

“So it got stuck and when you pulled it out, the wound got much bigger”, Mr. O’Sullivan asked. Mr. Corcoran replied “yeah”.

Mr. O’Sullivan said “This is nonsense. You are making up a story to fit the facts. You are trying to say it hit her face and her elbow. Did it bounce into her neck too?”

He replied: “I don’t know”.

Mr. O’Sullivan asked him where the blue knife with the serrated edges was. Mr. Corcoran said he didn’t know.

“You disposed of your shirt in a bag, and the red knife in the bin”.

“The blue knife along with your tie is found in a bag in the bedroom. How did it get into the bag?”

“I don’t know”.

“It wasn’t you who put the aerosol cans on the cooker?”, Mr. Corcoran replied “no”.

Mr. O’Sullivan said he would put it to him that the blue knife was “the instrument of her death and you used it multiple times”.

He challenged him on his version of events, saying he attacked Daena Walsh.

“You stabbed her repeatedly and ferociously. The blue knife went through her breastbone four times, isn’t that what happened?”

Mr. Corcoran replied: “I don’t know”.

Mr. O’Sullivan said the court and jury of 8 men and 4 women heard evidence that the injury to the mother of two’s left arm was carried out by a bread knife, with serrated edges, post mortem.

“Essentially, you did that to dismember the body”, the prosecution counsel said. Mr. Corcoran replied “no”.

The defendant denied that when this didn’t work, he decided to put the aerosol cans on the cooker to start a fire.

Mr. O’Sullivan asked Mr. Corcoran if he was saying that she hadn’t taken her own life.

He replied: “Yes, I killed her, yes”.

“But why did you say it was a suicide to 999?”, Mr. O’Sullivan asked.

“That is what I believed at the time, I didn’t know what happened”.

Mr. O’Sullivan put it to the defendant that he lied repeatedly to the jury.

“You lied from the start, to the 999 operator, to the guards on the day, to the guards in the days after, and you are lying now”.

Mr. Corcoran denied this.

His trial before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford continues.

A scaffolder who meted out a “volley of violence” on a defenceless “drunken bowsie” in response to his mother being insulted with lewd requests for sex has been found guilty of murder by a Central Criminal Court jury on Monday.

The panel of eight men and four women took six hours and 54 minutes over three days to reject the defence case by a majority verdict of ten to two, finding that this was not an unlawful killing but a case of murder.

It was the State’s case that Juris Kokenbergs died after his head was “stomped” on and blows “rained down on him” during an assault by his friend Tomas Cypas.

In his closing speech, Conor Devally SC, prosecuting, said that Cypas was under no threat and had the intent to at least cause serious injury to Kokenbergs.

Counsel said Cypas had inflicted “a battering” and an “appalling attack” with huge violence on his friend after Kokenbergs made “the utterances of a very drunk man”.

The jurors had the option of returning three verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Lithuanian national Cypas, namely: guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.

The jurors were told by the trial judge that they could find Cypas not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by reason of lack of intention to kill or cause serious injury or on the grounds of self-defence, provocation or intoxication.

Cypas (35), with an address at Foxborough Road, Lucan, Co Dublin had pleaded not guilty to murdering Latvian national Juris Kokenbergs (49) at Old Bridge Park, Lucan, Co Dublin on October 28th, 2024.

The defendant told gardaí in his interviews that he visited his mother at Old Bridge Park on October 26th to celebrate her birthday and have “some drinks”. Cypas said that Kokenbergs was already “pretty drunk” when he arrived at the house and that he wouldn’t have invited his friend if he knew he was in that state.

Cypas described his friend as being “so drunk” that “he didn’t seem to know who he was talking to…..he had been drinking for two weeks straight”.

The defendant said that there was an argument between him and Kokenbergs, adding: “It started over him [the deceased] telling my mam to go up and have sex with him. He said it three times.”

Cypas said Kokenbergs “came at” him first and had “started the punches”, so he acted in self-defence.

Cypas said he hit the deceased up to eight times in the face and didn’t “mean to hurt him or anything”.

“I didn’t think it was that bad, I didn’t consider he would die of his injuries. I didn’t plan this, he is my friend, it happened,” the defendant told detectives.

He denied stamping on Kokenbergs’ head during the assault.

Under cross-examination by the defence, a pathologist told the jurors that punching alone could have caused the extensive damage she found to the deceased’s brain.

Expert witness Dr Heidi Okkers testified that while “definitely” some sort of contact had been made from a shoe to the deceased’s scalp, she could not determine if it was significant.

The trial heard evidence that three areas of blood-staining with DNA matching that of Kokenbergs were found on the defendant’s runner. The jury also heard there was “weak support” for the position that Cypas’ footwear had made a pattern on the deceased’s head.

Following today’s majority verdict, Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for their service, which he said required careful attention to detail. He exempted them from jury duty for the next five years.

The judge will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to Cypas on March 23rd and remanded the defendant in custody until that date.

On that date, the Kokenbergs family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Juris’ death has had on their lives.

The jury had listened to a 999 recording of Cypas on the morning of October 28th requesting an ambulance for his friend, who he said was no longer breathing and was cold to the touch.

When gardaí arrived at Old Bridge Park at 8.15am that morning and cautioned Cypas, the defendant replied: “I hit him, this isn’t murder, I just hit him”.

The defendant told gardaí in his interviews that he had checked regularly on Kokenbergs when he lay on his sofa over the course of two days.

Cypas said his friend had been breathing and snoring at 5am on the morning of October 28th before he discovered him lying on the kitchen floor dead hours later.

When asked to carry out CPR by an emergency services dispatcher, Cypas had replied: “It’s not going to help, it’s not helping no”.

The dispatcher said the ambulance crew would not be able to help his friend if Cypas did not do this. “He’s…even the smell off him you know,” Cypas had replied.

In seeking a verdict of manslaughter for Cypas, Brendan Grehan with Rebecca Smith, defending, had submitted that his client’s case was that he had acted in some way in self-defence, but what was much more likely was that the defendant had “lost it” and hit his friend with “a flurry of punches” in response to his mother being insulted with a lewd comment.

Grehan asked the trial jury to return a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, asking the panel: “Where is the intent the prosecution suggest you grab onto and hold tight?”

The defence also queried how far the State’s case that there was “extensive stamping” on the deceased’s head was made out on the evidence.

Grehan suggested that the pathologist had been fairly unequivocal in her evidence, when she said that punching alone could have caused the “terrible injuries” suffered by the deceased.

It was the defence contention that the case was not one of murder. “Murder is something you know when you see it and hear it and it is not the situation here; we are dealing with an unlawful killing,” argued Grehan.

In his charge to the jury, Justice McDermott said the reality of the case focused on what was in the mind of the defendant when he inflicted these injuries on the deceased and that this was the main focus of contest between the prosecution and defence.

He was arrested at home earlier this morning

Gardai have rearrested Michael Kelley on suspicion of the murder of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine, it has emerged.

According to the Irish Mirror, American man Kelley, a self-admitted suspect for the murder of Mr Gaine, was arrested at his residence in Tralee earlier this morning.

The 54-year-old was arrested by gardai from the Kerry Division, as well as specialist detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. They arrested him on suspicion of the murder of 56-year-old Mr Gaine, who gardai believe was killed at his farm outside of Kenmare on or around March 20 last year.

A Garda statement this morning confirmed: “Gardaí at Killarney Garda Station continue to investigate the disappearance and homicide of Michael Gaine (56), who was reported missing from his home near Kenmare, Co. Kerry, on Friday, 21st March 2025.

“A man (aged in his 50s) has been arrested in connection with the investigation this morning, Tuesday, 24th February 2026.He is currently detained at a Garda Station in Kerry Garda Division. The investigation led by Serious Crime Unit Kerry Division has been and continues to be supported by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI).

“An Garda Síochána, through family liaison officers, continue to liaise with and support the family of Micheal Gaine. Investigations are ongoing.”

Gardai initially treated the disappearance of Mr Gaine, last seen at a shop in Kenmare on that day, as a missing person’s case. But they later upgraded it to a homicide case on April 29 last year.

Kelley was first arrested on suspicion of murder on April 18, three days after the first of Mr Gaine’s dismembered remains were found on his land on May 16. He was later released without charge, but is now back in custody. The former American soldier, who lived on Mr Gaine’s farm at Carrig East, about 8km outside Kenmare, was being held at a Garda Station in Kerry this morning. Detectives can detain him for up to 24 hours.

The arrest of former US soldier Mr Kelley comes just over nine months after he was previously detained on suspicion of the murder of Mr Gaine. Mr Kelley, who denies any involvement in Mr Gaine’s death, was released without charge on Monday, May 19, last year, after being arrested the previous day. He was held at Killarney Garda Station on that occasion.

Sources have confirmed that the arrested man is Mr Kelley, who is originally from Maine in the north-east of the United States. He has been living in the Tralee area since he was released from Garda custody in May.

That arrest came just over 24 hours after the first of Mr Gaine’s remains were found spread on part of his farm. Gardai later established he had been killed before his body was dismembered and the remains were dumped in a slurry pit in a shed on his own farm.

On Friday, May 16, family and friends were looking after his farm and drew slurry from the pit which they then began spreading on the fields. The machinery broke down and, to their horror, they discovered what they suspected was bits of human tissue.

Gardai then rushed to the area, sealed off the entire farm and began a major search, later recovering the bulk of Mr Gaine’s remains in the slurry tank. Mr Kelley, who had been working on the farm in return for lodgings, was arrested on suspicion of murder on May 18. But he was released without charge at around 10.40 pm on Monday, May 19.

The following Friday, May 23, The Irish Mirror found Mr Kelley in Tralee, where he insisted he was innocent. He told us he was being framed for the murder by gangsters. He said: “There may be elements that want to string me up…people who have an interest in organised crime – people who are involved in organised crime.”

“Well that is a matter of record,” he told us when asked if he was being treated as a suspect and that he was arrested and interviewed by gardai. He added, “Do you know who I am? Well then why do you ask? Whether or not I’m a suspect is not a matter of perspective. It’s a matter of public record.”

Asked if he said anything to the gardai, Mr Kelley told us: “Well of course, but that’s all stuff that is privileged between the guards, the solicitor and myself.”

We then asked him if he denies any involvement in the murder of Mr Gaine, to which he said: “Yes.” When we asked Mr Kelley what he believed had happened to Mr Gaine, he responded: “It would be incautious for me to comment on that on the advice of my solicitor.”

Gardai have been continuing their investigation and made their fresh move against Mr Kelley on Tuesday morning. That is despite Pat Mann, Mr Kelley’s solicitor, telling an Irish Mirror documentary in its Shattered Lives podcast on the Gaine case that gardai had no evidence against his client.

Mr Mann also told us in November last year that he believed Mr Kelley should not have been arrested. “I didn’t think there was any basis for the arrest. And that subsequently is being borne out,” Mr Mann told us in an on-camera interview in Tralee.

The well-regarded solicitor said he believes that he was able to establish that the much-publicised murder of Mr Gaine had nothing to do with Mr Kelley. He told us: “Yeah, you’re quite right he said, there that he had been arrested back then in Killarney on suspicion of being involved in that incident. And we clearly were able to establish it had nothing to do with him, and with the result of that is sort of that.”

Mr Mann went further, saying he did not believe the arrest of his client was justifiable – and he felt that gardai clearly had nothing, as they released him without charge.

He said: “He was arrested on suspicion of having been involved in the death of that man and he was interviewed about it and quite clearly they must have thought, they must have as a result of the interview, they must have reached the conclusion that he wasn’t involved or otherwise they would have – which is the normal thing – they would have kept somebody, charged and them and brought them before a special sitting (of) court.”

Asked if his client is maintaining his innocence, he said: “Well, he is innocent. It isn’t a question of maintaining it. It is like somebody, for example, judges regularly say to people, juries, and things that somebody is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Getting the doubt is not a benefit; it’s a fact.

“Because you see if you didn’t have any evidence against somebody, which clearly I don’t think they have against Michael, you’d actually be kind of defaming somebody, if you like, in a localised community or giving them a bad name, wrongly. Or targeting them for some lunatic to go after them, you know, if you said that.”

Asked if he felt gardai had any evidence against his client, he added: “I don’t think so, no. I just instinctively feel there isn’t. I just feel if there was going to be something – sure it’s a while back now. I can’t even remember. There’s been nothing sure in the meantime.”