A 27-year old Co Kerry man has been sentenced to a life term in prison for the murder of his sister in September 2004.
Robert O'Brien, of St John's Park, Castleisland, Co Kerry, changed his plea to guilty in the fifth day of his trial at the Central Criminal Court in Ennis after Mr Justice Paul Carney ruled that evidence where Mr O'Brien confessed to killing his sister, Elizabeth McCarthy (32), was admissible.
In the absence of the jury, the court was told by four Gardai that Mr O'Brien said that he killed his sister when high on drink and drugs when giving evidence under oath at a bail hearing at Clover Hill Court in October 2004.
After Mr Justice Carney made his ruling that the evidence could be put before the jury, Mr O'Brien - a married father of three children under five - changed his plea after three hours of consultation with his legal team.
Counsel for the state, Diarmuid McGuiness SC told the court: "The case has caused great distress for the family; to each and everyone involved." The court heard that Robert O'Brien drove his sister to the Quay at Blennerville after they both attended a cousin's wedding on the 28th September 2004.
At the quay, Mr O'Brien dumped his sister's body in the sea after beating her and strangling her to death.
The court was told that Elizabeth was dead before she entered the water and died from mechanical asphyxiation, suffering multiple blows to her head and body with over 100 separate injuries, including bruising and abrasions, to her legs and arms.