O’Connor’s killer is given life sentence after ‘cruel and brutal murder of a jolly woman’
‘Faces with no emotion of any kind’
THE son of murdered grandmother Patricia O’Connor has told how he was heartbroken and devastated by her violent death – and disgusted by the deceit and lies of his sister and others whom he had regarded as close family.
Richard O’Connor was speaking in the Central Criminal Court, shortly before the judge handed down a life sentence to his mother’s killer, Kieran Greene.
The dismembered remains of the 61-year-old retired hospital worker were found scattered across the Wicklow Mountains in June 2017.
A jury found she had been murdered by Greene, her daughter’s partner.
The 35-year-old was said to have killed Mrs O’Connor in anger, on May 29, 2017, after tensions in the crowded house the family shared in Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin reached boiling point.
Ms O’Connor’s daughter Louise, 41, granddaughter Stephanie, 23, husband Gus, 76, and Stephanie’s father, Keith Johnston, 43, were all found guilty of impeding the investigation and prosecution of her murder. Their sentences will be handed down by Judge Paul McDermott on Friday.
Mr O’Connor said yesterday he had never had the chance to say goodbye to his mother, who had ‘so much life left to live’, and that he would have difficulty in trusting people again.
Ms O’Connor’s siblings told the court that they were ‘sickened’ to find out who was involved in her killing, and ‘disgusted’ by their lack of emotion.
Louise O’Connor was said to have agreed to Stephanie, then aged 19, dressing up as her grandmother, in order to conceal the fact she was already dead. Gus admitted reporting his wife missing, knowing that she had been murdered. And handyman Johnston was found to have helped Greene buy the tools needed to conceal the murder.
Greene told gardaí that he had struck Patricia O’Connor with a hurley during a fight in the bathroom. Post-mortem evidence showed that Ms O’Connor had died from blunt force trauma to the head, having been struck so hard that her skull caved in.
Greene admitted he first buried her in a shallow grave in Wexford, before returning to chop up the body with a hacksaw, placing the nine separate body parts in black plastic bags and driving to Wicklow to throw them out of the car.
He, and other family members, had told gardaí that Ms O’Connor was constantly verbally abusive, and that the household environment was toxic, with frequent arguments and infighting, the court heard.
Patricia’s sister, Colette Barry, told the sentencing hearing that she and her siblings were ‘still in disbelief’ over Ms O’Connor’s ‘cruel and brutal murder’.
She said: ‘We were all sickened to find out who was involved in her murder. The lies that were told, the cruel cover-up of her murder. It has been sickening and utterly disgusting to sit through the seven-week trial, to see all of their faces with no emotion of any kind.’
Ms Barry’s voice cracked with emotion as she added: ‘We were deeply hurt by how Patricia’s character was so cruelly tarnished by their spiteful lies. The people who truly knew her – her sisters, brothers, friends, work colleagues, her neighbours – will defend her kind, caring, loving nature.
‘A jolly woman who sang out loud as she went about her day. They can never take those previous memories way from us.
‘We are still trying to come to terms with the brutal and violent way her life came to a very sad end. Trisha we love you always.’
Prosecuting senior counsel Roisin Lacey took Det Insp Brian O’Keeffe through a summary of the evidence heard by the court during the trial, which was held in January and February this year.
Det O’Keeffe, a senior investigator in the case, confirmed that none of the five had any previous convictions, apart from one road traffic offence in 2013 for Greene, for not having insurance.
He also said he had seen the probation and welfare reports in the case, and noted Louise O’Connor had, since her conviction, blamed Gus O’Connor and Greene for asking Stephanie to disguise herself as her recently killed grandmother.
But Det O’Keeffe said CCTV evidence showed that Gus O’Connor was not in fact in the house when Stephanie left, dressed as Patricia.
And he said that Stephanie did not corroborate her mother’s version of events.
Michael Bowman SC, for Louise O’Connor, said his client had a notebook, entitled ‘Parenting 101 – How I love my kids’, which contained messages of life advice to each of them, such as it being
‘okay to cry’, not to hold onto their anger, and to get on with their lives. Mr Bowman suggested to Det O’Keeffe that the notebook was like a suicide note, but that although she did get depressed, she would never leave her five children without a mother.
He added that she was a loving and dedicated mother and offered an unreserved apology for her actions to her family.
Garnet Orange SC, for Stephanie O’Connor, said his client was pleasant and well-spoken, and that the probation report indicated she was at low risk of re-offending. He said she was just 19 at the time of the offence.
Det O’Keeffe responded: ‘She was detained for 24 hours and showed very little emotion. She was not fazed by being arrested on suspicion of murder.’
Micheál O’Higgins SC said his client, Gus O’Connor, had been ‘caught up in a horrific experience not actually of his making’.
He said Mr O’Connor accepted he should have called police immediately after he discovered his wife’s body in the house, but that he had left others to deal with it, and had wanted to protect Louise and prevent a family feud.
He said psychological reports showed Gus O’Connor had been psychologically and financially abused by his daughter, and that after the murder he had gone into a state of shock, unable to act.
Conor Devally SC, for Greene, said he could not influence sentencing for murder, but reminded the court that his client had led a previously blameless life.
James Dwyer SC asked for a lenient sentence for Johnston, a devoted father, adding that although his client did not accept he had participated in an offence, he did accept that Mrs O’Connor’s family were devastated.