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What do you think were the most shocking murder cases in Ireland and why do you think

suziki832

What do you think were the most shocking murder cases in Ireland and why do you think some may be more shocking than others?

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Todd Gack

The vicious murder of the two Polish lads in Drimnagh by a teenager with a screwdriver

Knine

Sharon Whelan who was murdered by her Postman on Christmas Eve. Her poor girls gone to bed waiting on Santa & he set fire to the house leaving them to perish. Bas****

jca

The murder suicide of the Flood family in Clonroche still upsets me. I spoke to one of the children's teachers not long after it happened, very very sad.

retro:electro

Being from Galway, the rape and murder of Swiss student Manuela Riedo is one that absolutely devestated people of the locality. The scumbag who murdered her should never have been walking the streets and the case highlights the pressing need for legal reform in this country.

Grayson

Marioara Rostas, a 18 year old Roma girl, who was kidnapped beaten raped and tortured over the course of a week before being shot and having her body dumped in the mountains. I think if she had've been Irish the outcry would have been bigger and it would have been front page news.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/the-life-and-death-of-marioara-rostas-181766.html

Samuel T. Cogley

Mary “Moll” McCarthy - The wrong man was hanged in 1941 it took until 2015/16 to clear his name.

r93kaey5p2izun

Slightly off topic but on a related matter - how far back would the articles and reports available through paid subscription to the Irish Times go? There is a case I would like to read more about in terms of how it was reported at the time but nothing shows up on google or a search on IT or the Indo websites. Would I find what I'm looking for with a paid subscription or are these things available in a library somewhere?

Red Kev

Wayne O'Donoghue murdering Robert Holohan. Always an odd story that a man of his age would play with an 11 year old. But taking part in the search was callous and cold hearted to say the least.

He only sat 3 years for manslaughter as well.

retro:electro

When Rachel Callaly was murdered by her husband Joe O' Reilly. Seeing him on The Late Late alongside her mother, the absolute gall of him.

I remember reading the book her mother wrote about the murder, and how she had her inklings about him during that interview. She summed up so perfectly how grief is manifested when someone dies. The day after her murder, she wrote "I remember sitting in the car and looking out the window seeing people laughing, the birds were singing, the kids were cheering, people were going about their day to day lives. "How can they do this?" I thought. "Do they not know that Rachel is dead?". Sums up perfectly that indescribable feeling when you just want the world to stop turning.

freshpopcorn

For me it would have to be Rachel O'Reilly. I was around twelve at the time and we even had a class discussion about it. It was just such an interesting case
about a young mother being murdered after doing the school run.
Then there was The Late Late Show interview, finding out about Joe's affair and finding out Rachel was adopted and having a twin sister.
Then during the trial we found out about the details of E-mails and text message and how Joe's mobile was a crucial part of evidence.

r93kaey5p2izun

They're all very shocking really but some stand out based on the manner of the act itself, of how the body was treated afterwards or the type of person the perpetrator seemed to be.

The Graham Dwyer case is like something out of a novel on all counts. Almost too far fetched only it's real. Same with the John Horgan murder.

For personal reasons I find murders carried out by people suffering serious mental illness have a bigger impact on me. Familial murders too - though they very often don't result in any trial or adequate examination of the perpetrators (imo).

Yamanoto

In 1963 Shan Mohangi (a South African medical student attending RCSI) strangled and dismembered his 16-year-old girlfiend, Hazel Mullen, then attempted to incinerate her remains in the Green Tureen restaurant on Harcourt Street.

Having seen his death sentence reduced to manslaughter & serving a paltry four years of a seven year sentence, he changed his name and returned to Durban after his release & ran for political office, though he was outed for his crime & withdrew his candidacy.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/shan-...t-him-1.729751

Red Kev

Amalgam wrote: »

McArthur got off lightly.. How he killed the nurse and farmer.. If you look at the story of his life, that kind of 'character' is very hard to correct, if at all. The crimes were just a 'blossoming' of the very root of who he was.

Michael McDowell defended him BTW. He was never tried for murdering the farmer, he served about 30 years, but I'm not sure how much psychological counselling he received.

My uncle was a Garda at the time, he was told more than once that we didn't even hear half of the story and that McArthur had a lot of damaging information on a lot of people.

eviltwin

The Hawe case

Amalgam

McArthur got off lightly.. [EDIT] ..in the sense that he was kept at a hospital and relatively speaking, the relaxed regimen of an open prison, later in his incarceration.

How he killed the nurse and farmer.. If you look at the story of his life, that kind of 'character' is very hard to correct, if at all. The crimes were just a 'blossoming' of the very root of who he was.

Red Kev

July 1982. The murders of Bridie Gargan in the Phoenix Park and farmer Donal Dunne three days later by Malcolm McArthur. He was found hiding in the then Attorney General's appartment. In between the muder and the arrest he had had a chat with the Garda Commissioner about the murders. It gave rise to the GUBU term.

If it happened today boards.ie, Twitter and Facebook would collapse under the strain, it was so shocking.

Murders in Ireland were almost unheard of back then outside of the NI conflict, but a random killing of a nurse in the Park and how she was found would cause a huge story even today.

To me, still the most shocking one of the lot, even though I was living in Germany when Veronica Guerin was murdered and it made top news there three days running.

The murderer, Malcolm Edward MacArthur, born 17 April 1945, was a well-known eccentric character in Dublin social circles and never held a job, as he lived off inheritance from the sale of his father's farm, after his death in 1974. However, as his money ran out, MacArthur decided to fund his lifestyle by robbery. First he decided to purchase a gun and responded to an advertisement by Dónal Dunne, a farmer in Edenderry, County Offaly who had a shotgun for sale. However, having no transport and needing to get from Dublin to Edenderry, he decided to steal a car.

On 22 July 1982, a nurse named Bridie Gargan (aged 27) had been sunbathing in the Phoenix Park in Dublin during her time off work. MacArthur, intending to steal her car, bludgeoned her with a hammer. In the ensuing confusion, MacArthur drove off, leaving the dying Gargan on the back seat.

At this point a passing ambulance became involved and escorted MacArthur to the hospital, as the driver mistook him for a doctor because of a windscreen sticker which Gargan had. MacArthur later abandoned the car nearby. Three days later, having found alternative means to get to Edenderry, MacArthur visited the farmer Dónal Dunne and murdered him with his own shotgun after examining it. MacArthur then stole Dunne's car and drove it to Dublin. These two violent murders created a sensation, as unmotivated murder in Ireland, coupled with the youth and respectability of the nurse and farmer, was an unusual set of circumstances.

The Garda Síochána (Irish police) soon had a description of the person they wanted.

MacArthur was acquainted with Patrick Connolly, the then Attorney General, who was the chief legal advisor to the Irish Government. Both attended a match in Croke Park, several days after the murder, and this led to a discussion between Connolly, MacArthur, and the then Garda Commissioner, Patrick McLoughlin, regarding the murder. (MacArthur even asked McLoughlin about the investigation of the "dreadful" murder.) On 13 August 1982, after a massive search, MacArthur was arrested on the private property of Connolly, and had been staying in the property for some time as a guest. Connolly, who had been getting ready for holiday, continued on his journey to the United States and did not give any interview to the Gardaí on the matter.

A serious effort was made to prevent the relationship between Connolly and MacArthur becoming public and indeed it was claimed that this was homosexual, something that was later discounted. Connolly was promptly requested to return to Ireland where he then resigned on 16 August. Haughey attempted to distance himself from the fiasco and described the event as "a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance."

MacArthur admitted his guilt of the murder of the nurse. Because of this, he was not tried for Dunne's murder as the state entered a plea of nolle prosequi. This led to a petition of 10,000 signatures to ensure MacArthur would be tried for his murder. This was unsuccessful and MacArthur received a life sentence for just one murder.

Noveight

Lady Chatterton wrote: »

a murder committed by Brendan Patrick O'Donnell in Cregg Wood, Co. Clare.

Never before heard of that murder, in my own county and all. Absolutely chilling.

Going Forward

The murder of John Horgan.

Truly shocking.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/lorcan-bale/

The Boy in the Attic.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056419835

KingBrian2

The Veronica Guerin case was shocking in its time but personally that case of the women in the Leinster Jersey who was murdered. Not to ofay with the case but it was well documented and covered in the press.

Lady Chatterton

All murders are shocking but for me the one that still haunts me 23 years on is a murder committed by Brendan Patrick O'Donnell in Cregg Wood, Co. Clare.

Imelda Riney (29), her son Óisin (3) and Fr. Joe Walsh (37) lost their lives (RIP)

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/bodies-of-mother-and-son-3-were-found-ritually-slain-murder-trial-is-told-1.22131

Seth Brundle

Shocking in what way?
Nowadays we don't shock as easily as 50 or 100 years ago.
Nonetheless, I'd say the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

suziki832

Zaph wrote: »

Well what do you think were the most shocking murder cases in Ireland and why? The least you can do is give your opinion if you're expecting others to do the same.

Elaine O Haras. I think Graham Dwyer just seemed like a normal well-to-do guy and it was pretty shocking for people that someone who appeared so 'normal' was a wolf in sheeps clothing. In comparison to some of the gang related crimes.

Now there you go. Thats my opinion

Jack the Stripper

Someone is on edge.

Zaph

Well what do you think were the most shocking murder cases in Ireland and why? The least you can do is give your opinion if you're expecting others to do the same.