HE KILLED HER ...THEN TRIED TO BUY COCAINE
Mark Hennessy toured pubs and rang drug dealer AFTER he strangled Jastine Valdez and disposed of her body
KILLER Mark Hennessy went on a drinking binge and rang a cocaine dealer within hours of abducting and murdering student Jastine Valdez.
Gardaí believe the 40-year- old went to various pubs in south Dublin and Bray in the hours
after he murdered the 24-yearold student on Saturday.
He phoned a south Dublin-based drug dealer in an ‘agitated state’ in a desperate bid to buy cocaine, sources have revealed. And he spoke to his wife on the phone on Sunday
during his chaotic binge following the brutal killing of the Filipina student.
A post mortem indicated Ms Valdez had been strangled less than an hour after she was abducted on her way home in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, on Saturday evening.
It could be a week before it is established if Hennessy sexually assaulted her before killing her.
The 40-year-old appears to have ‘drank alcohol to excess’ and unsuccessfully tried to obtain cocaine from one drug dealer, senior sources say.
One source said: ‘He asked one individual for cocaine. This person has spoken to gardaí about this. It is unknown at this point whether he managed to buy coke from another dealer.
‘But in the 24 hours after he committed murder he did not go home and he is believed to have been drinking, at the minimum. His toxicology report will show what was in his system.’
On Sunday night, Hennessy was shot dead by an armed detective after confronting gardaí with a knife in Cherrywood Business Park, south Dublin.
The detective who shot him dead fired his official handgun just once, the Mail understands.
The bullet entered his shoulder blade – then entered and exited through his head. Hennessy had already being cutting himself before gardaí arrived at the scene.
It is also believed that Hennessy had ‘leaned into the footwell’ of the passenger side of his black Nissan Qashqai 4x4, in what was believed to be an effort to retrieve a potential weapon, seconds before he was shot dead.
Armed gardaí were also afraid the Filipina woman was inside the car at the time and that he was attempting to stab her. Moments earlier, he had ‘lunged’ with a knife at an unarmed Traffic Corps officer, the first unit on the scene.
Hennessy had abducted Ms Valdez just after 6pm on Saturday when he bundled her into his car as she walked home. Detectives investigating her death have been unable yet to establish any link between Ms Valdez and Hennessy, who lived in Bray, Co. Wicklow, but was originally from Ballybrack, south Dublin. The Filipina student’s body was discovered in undergrowth at Puck’s Castle Lane just over the Wicklow border in Co. Dublin late on Monday afternoon.
Sources say father- of-two Hennessy’s life was in ‘freefall’ due to his alcohol and drug misuse, which had put serious pressure on his marriage and family life.
The south Dublin-based drug dealer who contacted gardaí on Sunday – after Hennessy was shot dead – said the killer had phoned in an ‘agitated state’ asking to buy cocaine on Saturday night, the Mail understands. The dealer had no drugs to sell Hennessy.
Gardaí have recovered CCTV recordings from a number of firms i n the Ballybrack area where Hennessy is said to have passed through on Saturday night after killing the Tallaght Institute of Technology student.
They believe he may also have gone drinking in a number of pubs in south Dublin and Bray so they have been in touch with local bars to determine his movement in the 24 hours after the murder.
Gardaí have now established that Hennessy was ‘deeply troubled’ about his personal circumstances.
Sources also said gardaí will need to compare his DNA with that taken from other crime scenes to see if he had any involvement in any major past cases. A source said: ‘There is a lot of talk about his potential i nvolvement in other crimes. We just don’t know and won’t know until his DNA profile is run through the national database.’
The source also said: ‘It seems his state of mind was very unstable in the 24 hours after he murdered the young woman. As well as visiting pubs, he does seem to have been driving around the south Dublin area extensively.’
Hennessy was shot dead by a garda in Cherrywood Business Park shortly after 8pm on Sunday. However, he had driven up to the
‘Beyond distraught’
business park twice on Sunday before his fatal confrontation with armed gardaí.
The Mail also understands Hennessy’s wife, who is from Wales, is due to be interviewed in greater depth by investigating detectives, as they try to ‘get an insight into his state of mind’.
Gardaí will also be seeking any electronic equipment from his home to see if it provides any clues into his mindset. It is not believed he owned a laptop.
After abducting Ms Valdez, Hennessy took the Filipina student to the Puck’s Castle area of the Dublin Mountains where he is believed to have strangled her before dumping her body in heavy scrub. He sustained severe scraping after dumping her body in the undergrowth, it is understood.
Her body was fully clothed when discovered, although gardaí are trying to establish i f she was sexually assaulted and then her attacker had put her clothes back on. The body was discovered late on Monday afternoon.
Both Ms Valdez’s parents and the family of her suspected killer are ‘ beyond distraught’ and appealing for privacy. The Filipina student, an only child, came to Ireland just three years ago.
Her parents have been living here for 18 years ‘working hard and saving’ to bring their only child to Ireland for the chance of a more prosperous life.
Ms Valdez, who was also a carer, was reported missing by her parents late on Saturday after she failed to return home and could not be contacted by phone or social media.
Earlier, two witnesses called gardaí and reported a partial registration after they saw a woman matching Ms Valdez’s description being bundled into a dark car on the R760 south of Enniskerry.
Hennessy had left a blood-stained note in his car – barely legible to investigating gardaí because of the extensive bloodstaining – revealing where he had dumped her body at Puck’s Lane near Rathmichael in the Dublin mountains. He had also written the word ‘sorry’. On Monday last week Hennessy had appeared in court charged with dangerous driving, drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident after crashing into another car last September.
He was due back before Bray District Court on June 11.
It is alleged he smashed into another car in Meath Road, Bray, later fleeing the scene before being arrested and breathalysed.
Otherwise, Hennessy was not ‘known to gardaí’ in any real sense, sources say, other than for two other minor convictions. ali.bracken@dailymail.ie
A blood-stained note in his car