A Cavan man has been found guilty of murdering a mother of one by stabbing her to death on the front lawn of her home a day after she gave evidence in court against a friend of his.
A jury of eight men and four women found Brendan McGahern (28), with an address at Corlismore, Co Cavan, guilty of murdering Amy Farrell (21) at Glenlara, Cavan, on January 20th, 2006.
It took the jury hearing the case in the Central Criminal Court, Dublin, just over one hour to return its verdict.
Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced McGahern to the mandatory life term and excused the jurors from jury service for the rest of their lives. "These cases are distressing for everybody concerned," he said.
Ms Farrell's father, Paul, told the court after the verdict. "I am angry and I am heartbroken.
"I never thought we'd see the day that I would be standing in court trying to paint a picture so publicly of our most cherished daughter, but here I am."
During the seven-day trial the court heard Ms Farrell, a mother of one, had moved to Cavan from Leixlip in November 2005 to live with her friend Sharon Cosgrove.
During the six weeks she lived in the town, she became associated with a Brendan Kelly, who was friends with McGahern.
On January 19th, the day before McGahern killed her, Ms Farrell gave evidence in the Virginia District Court against Kelly who had assaulted her and stolen two of her cars.
McGahern was at court with Kelly and his girlfriend, Stephanie Cahill, and Kelly was sentenced to 16 months to be served in Castlerea Prison.
Gardaí told the trial that they suspected Kelly had a part to play in Ms Farrell's demise after mobile phone records showed a phone registered to Ms Cahill was being used in the Castlerea area and the number corresponded with a contact named "Brendan" in McGahern's phone.
McGahern has strenuously denied Kelly had any involvement or influence in what happened and Kelly refused to answer questions about the mobile phone, the court heard.
McGahern had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but the DPP refused to accept the plea.
David Kennedy SC, for McGahern, said his client was labouring under a mental illness at the time that substantially diminished his responsibility for the killing.
Before the jury retired yesterday, Mr Justice Carney had reiterated it was on the defence to prove McGahern was labouring under a mental illness that substantially diminished his responsibility for killing Ms Farrell.
He said if they found the defence had done enough to prove that, McGahern would be guilty of manslaughter.
In returning a verdict of guilty of murder the jury rejected that defence.
Mr Justice Carney backdated McGahern's life sentence to January 20th, 2006, and refused leave to appeal.