The Dalkey House of Horrors

mhge wrote: »

Cynthia Owen (formerly Sindy Murphy) is the daughter who survived, the mother of the murdered baby. She is posting names and photos of official suspects in this case on social media. She wants to warn parents as well as find other victims, and from the articles she posted it seems that these men are indeed under active investigation.
I hope it's not against the guidelines to post the above, with no names of course. Official investigation activity seems to be a good development in this old case.

Yep several people have been interview again as the case is being re-opened. I'm actually bowing out of this thread with crossed fingers that something does come of this. Best of luck Cynthia.

The names and their photos were on Cynthia's FB page but are now taken off, probably due to the defamation laws here. If you are from the area you'll definitely recognise some of them.
Wonder if anybody took a screengrab ...?

niamhtwelve wrote: »

Are the names of the six available elsewhere online? It's very unsettling to live so close to them and feel like they are in our midst

You're not the first person to ask that. Dalkey likely has several paedophiles living in the area. Glad I don't live there anymore.

melissak wrote:

Why is there no investigation into why dpp doesn't press charges? Waiting for whoever it is that has sway does it suppose.

No doubt it will be done when those involved are dead

I presumed it was this case

Just harrowing beyond belief. And the parents now denying any of it occurring..after the suicide of 3 of their children..just no words..

My name is URL wrote: »

That guy is off the hook now whether he's guilty of anything or not.

Idiotic to mention his name publicly in the first place, and very inept and irresponsible of the journalists who repeated what was said.

There's no way a fair trial could happen now

Yes, how stupid of her to do that, did she not know that 43 years after a crime is the magic number for the Irish justice system to do it's job and seek justice for murdered babies and child rape victims. :rolleyes:

Going public is the only way that lady will ever see any justice.

My name is URL wrote: »

That guy is off the hook now whether he's guilty of anything or not.

Idiotic to mention his name publicly in the first place, and very inept and irresponsible of the journalists who repeated what was said.

There's no way a fair trial could happen now

I dunno, his defence lawyers would definitely argue that for sure but the last person to pull such a stunt along those lines and get away with it was Charlie Haughey.

The likes of Graham Dwyer and Sean Fitzpatrick have both claimed they couldn't get a fair trial due to media coverage of them but in both instances the judges said the trial goes ahead.

I know it wasn't a good idea to publically name her abuser but judges can and do direct juries to disregard anything they've heard in the media. Also barristers have the opportunity to select and reject jurors till both defence and prosecution agree on a jury.

What I'd love to know about this case is why a file was sent to the DPP no less than 8 times and each time the DPP decided not to prosecute. What that means is that on 8 occasions Cynthia's testimony was found to be credible enough by both Gardai and consultant psychiatrists but on every single occasion when it got to the DPP the case was halted. A mate of mine has a theory that there was foul play involved- he reckons some senior employee in the DPP was influencing the outcome to prevent a trial going ahead. He thinks this person may have retired recently and therefore the case is now set to be blown open again.

IMO it also raises the question as to why people who have a case referred to the DPP cannot get a reason from them as to why they are not proceeding. This old chestnut of 'DPP discretion' needs to be stopped, in any proper functioning democracy the citizen should at least be told why instead of them saying 'because we say so' and thats that.

I also find Alan Shatters involvement here strange. He was Cynthia Owen's solicitor when he was on the opposition benches but as soon as he became Minister for Justice she claims he did little or nothing to advance her case.

The whole thing is bizarre. If the allegations are true then we could be witnessing one of the biggest cover-ups the State has even been involved in.

wokingvoter wrote: »

I see. Thank you. I'm very uncomfortable with trial by media. As horrendous as her childhood appears to have been , these accused men have no realistic way to defend themselves from these accusations of inhuman barbarism.
Taking a defamation case would most likely go against any of them either way.
How do you prove you weren't in a paedophile ring 50 years ago?
I'm open to correction but in defamation it is up to the litigant to prove that an allegation is untrue?
Added to that having your face on the TV and in the papers daily for weeks and the "guilty until proved innocent" mentality that pervades society
Topped of with the "no smoke without fire" reaction if defamation is proved, I certainly wouldn't persue the accuser through the Courts if my name was included on the list.

Thats the thing about our terrible defamation laws- they are extremely plaintiff friendly. Cynthia has made the allegation so under our defamation laws the onus is on her to prove the facts of the case, not on the accused to prove that they aren't true.

Thats why I said further back the thread that if the retired Garda is innocent why is he not suing her for defamation and instead giving interviews to the media to "clear his name". Legally the retired Garda has the upper hand here because the defamation laws are on his side. Yet he was named on Facebook publically last January and now here in May he is doing an interview for the Irish Examiner. His first port of call should be a good defamation lawyer, not the media.