Reese, 3, witnessed murder of his family before he was killed
Documentary on domestic violence reveal horror of boy’s last moments
A THREE-year-old boy murdered by his mother’s ex-partner alongside his mother, baby sister and his mother’s friend was the last to be killed and witnessed his family’s violent deaths, a new RTÉ documentary will reveal.
The documentary on domestic violence has been made by Emma Murphy, herself a victim of domestic abuse whose testimony in a Facebook video went viral three years ago.
Emma talks to the mother of Alicia Brough. Alicia, 20, was murdered along with her friend Sarah Hines, 25, and Sarah’s two children, five-monthold Amy and Reece, three, in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, in 2010.
They were killed by Sarah’s exboyfriend, John Geary, now 42.
Now Maria Dempsey, the mother of Alicia, has recalled her daughter and spoken about the days and weeks before her death.
Alicia was visiting Sarah when Geary embarked on his rampage.
Maria says investigators later told her that toddler Reece was likely the last to die. ‘That’s what I think about all the time,’ she says. ‘Three years old, to see what’s coming, to see your mum dead.’
Sarah had separated from Geary, the father of baby Amy, and had moved to the Co. Limerick town. However, Geary remained a regular presence in Sarah’s life. ‘Sarah had moved into Newcastle West,’ Maria explains in the documentary. ‘John moved into Newcastle West just four days after. He was knocking on her door, pressuring her.’
Alicia, who had recently completed a psychology course in Britain, provided her friend with support. Sarah, says Maria, ‘was happy to have Alicia around, she needed a friend’.
Meanwhile, Alicia ‘wasn’t afraid ever to speak back’ to her friend’s ex-partner, says Maria. On November 15, 2010, Alicia decided to take her friend’s son Reece to the shop.
When she returned, she found a scene of mayhem. Geary had already attacked his ex-partner and baby daughter. Maria tells documentary that she has been told what happened next.
‘When Alicia walked in, Geary sat there with Amy in his arms. Apparently Ali tried to take her off him but the guards said Amy was already dead at that point. She couldn’t have known.
‘Then Geary attacked Alicia, and little Reece was practically last. He saw everything.’
Maria first heard of the stabbings on the radio through Limerick FM. ‘The news came on and I can remember the tone, the jingle they have. They said four bodies had been found. I knew then.’
Geary was caught by gardaí in Kilkee, Co. Clare, the following day. He had travelled by bus to the seaside town and spent the night in a guesthouse.
In 2013, he was given four concurrent life sentences for the murders after pleading guilty.
Emma Murphy, the presenter of the RTÉ documentary, is active in the campaign to raise awareness around domestic violence.
In 2015, she posted a video online claiming that she had been a victim of domestic violence.
Her then-boyfriend, Francis Usanga, was later convicted of punching her.
‘He was knocking on her door, pressuring her’