A Dublin man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of a mother of two.
John O'Neill (57), Mercer House flats, Mercer Street, Dublin, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of Rosemary Dowling (49) at his flat on either October 24th or 25th, 2005.
The naked body of Ms Dowling, from Donnybrook, was found wrapped in bedclothes near his flat early on October 25th.
The defence claimed Ms Dowling had bitten O'Neill's penis during a sexual encounter and that he was so provoked that he temporarily lost control. The 10 men and two women jurors however rejected this and took 3½ hours to reach their verdict.
Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced O'Neill to the mandatory life sentence and backdated it to October 27th, 2005. O'Neill kept his head down and showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.
During her victim impact statement, Sheila Dowling broke down as she described the "horrible effect" her sister's murder had had on the entire family.
Ms Dowling said her killing has been "especially hard" on her two children - the oldest of whom is doing her Junior Cert.
She said her younger child, who is 11, spoke about her mother every day.
During the trial, the court heard how Ms Dowling ran a second-hand record store on Aungier Street, near O'Neill's home. She and O'Neill were both chronic alcoholics. Her drinking had led her to receive a number of minor convictions for public order offences.
On the evening of October 24th, O'Neill left the pub in which he had spent the day drinking and passed by Ms Dowling, whom he knew as Rose. He told gardaí he knew her "not even a year", and that they began talking.
A passer-by saw him help her shut the shop and walk arm-in- arm along the street in the direction of O'Neill's flat. He said she was more drunk than O'Neill. They were also seen by O'Neill's neighbour who said they were "in good spirits".
Prosecution counsel Gerard Clarke SC told the jury at the start of the trial that from this point on, the only evidence they had of what followed was O'Neill's own account.
In interviews with gardaí, O'Neill said they arrived back at his flat just after 7.30pm.
They continued drinking wine and then cans and he claimed that at about midnight, they started taking off their clothes on the couch as they began engaging in sexual activity.
He told gardaí that after they went into the bedroom, Ms Dowling began hitting and scratching him and then bit his penis.
He claimed he completely lost it and "saw red". He said he picked up a lump hammer from his toolbox beside the bed and followed her into the hall where he struck her across her head.
Ms Dowling then fell to the floor and he dragged her into the spare bedroom where he continued beating her across the head.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Ms Dowling had died following a "severe assault" caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
She had been struck at least 14 times with a heavy object with a small surface area and most of the blows appeared to have been struck while the victim was concussed, unconscious or incapacitated.
Dr Cassidy said the attack had been sustained and "amounted to overkill". She also found part of a blade used to cut Ms Dowling's throat lodged inside her neck.
O'Neill said he could not remember cutting her across the throat with the blade and that he just went "blank".
After the killing, he said he could not believe what he had done and began wrapping her body in several layers of bedclothes. He showered, then dragged a blood-spattered armchair down a nearby lane, before trying to set fire to it, along with the lump hammer and some clothes. Then he dragged the body outside and left it where he knew "someone would see it".