MOTCHA’S KILLER TO SERVE AT LEAST 5 YEARS IN AUSTRALIAN JAIL
CAHILL SAID TO BE ‘CONTENT’ WITH SENTENCE THAT COULD SEE HER RELEASED FROM PRISON EARLY IN 2022
AFTER nearly two years of hell, the family of David ‘Motcha’ Walsh will now try to move on with their lives after his fiancée Tina Cahill from New Ross was sentenced to eight years in prison in Australia for his killing. The 27 year-old will be eligible for release in February 2022, when she is expected to be immediately deported back to Ireland.
Cahill had pleaded guilty to manslaughter after stabbing her fiancé to death after a night out at their Sydney home in February 2017. Justice Peter Johnson handed down the prison sentence at New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday stating that he was ‘not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the offender intended to kill Mr Walsh’ and that he accepted the offence was committed ‘in the heat of the moment’.
While passing judgement, Judge Johnson took the time to sympathise with David’s family back in Enniscorthy, commenting on the heartbreak his death had caused, as evidenced in victim impact statements read into evidence at the court in recent weeks.
‘ They reflect the enormous loss suffered by each of them resulting from the death of Mr Walsh,’ he said. ‘And the terrible news of his death received by them in Ireland from a distant land.’
He added: ‘ The distress suffered by each of the family members is clear from their victim impact statements’ and ‘ that grief is no doubt compounded by the fact that his death occurred in a country far away from their homes in Ireland.’
Compounding the heartache of David’s family back home, the Australian court reflected on the tumultuous relationship he had with Cahill, during which time she painted him as jealous, controlling and often violent towards her.
‘I am satisfied the psychiatric evidence supports the existence of significant depression on the part of the offender at the time of the killing which arose from the unusual and abusive relationship with Mr Walsh,’ the Judge said.
He described the relationship as a volatile one ‘ marked by incidents of violence on both sides of the relationship’. He said that Mr Walsh used ‘controlling conduct, verbal abuse and demeaning language towards Ms Cahill who responded with the use of violence, including the use of weapons, usually at times when both were intoxicated’.
Given the ‘drunken and fractious’ nature of their relationship, Judge Johnson said their decision to get engaged on New Year’s Eve 2016 ‘could be considered an extraordinary development’.
In passing sentence, the judge said the extensive history of domestic violence was taken into consideration and added that Mr Walsh was ‘ the principal perpetrator of the violence including his controlling and jealous behaviour towards Tina Cahill over a period of time’.
He said Ms Cahill committed acts of violence towards Mr Walsh which were essentially ‘reactive to his violent or aggressive behaviour’ and cited three incidents in September, October and November of 2015 which were also considered as part of the sentencing. These incidents involved violence by Tina Cahill and David Walsh towards each other.
Judge Johnson found that on October 3, 2015, Cahill had used a knife to inflict minor injuries on Mr Walsh during the course of a drunken argument.
He said: ‘ The offender did not intend to inflict significant harm to Mr Walsh although, even at the hearing, she could not really explain why she attacked him with a knife.’
The court was told Tina stabbed Mr Walsh after he insulted her family.
During another incident in November 2015, Tina said she picked up a candle and, with her back turned, threw it over her shoulder. The candle struck Mr Walsh to the right side of his forehead, causing three deep lacerations and rapid blood loss. As a result of this she was charged with reckless wounding of Mr Walsh and sentenced to a two-year bond which included a condition that she complete domestic violence rehabilitation. The bond was current when she stabbed her fiancé to death.
When taking into account events on the night of David’s death on February 15, 2017, Judge Johnson said that he couldn’t be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she meant to kill him. He said he had noted that Cahill showed genuine remorse and had ‘excellent prospects of rehabilitation’
Relaying events, Judge Johnson said that Mr Walsh was heavily intoxicated and agitated on the night when Cahill and friends, including a man called Matthew Hyde, returned from a night out. They found the front door had been smashed in by Mr Walsh and there was a trail of blood inside the house. David Walsh was asleep on the couch but woke up and hit Matthew Hyde from behind and yelled ‘who the f *** are you?’.
Mr Walsh mistakenly believed Mr Hyde was there with Tina and repeatedly punched him. The court heard that 29 year-old Mr Walsh was ‘irate and his body language was aggressive’.
Tina Cahill then punched Mr Walsh in the face and he pushed her back trying to punch her in the face at which point she walked to the kitchen and got a sharp bladed knife. Her friend told her to put it back, but she replied ‘No, he needs to be taught a lesson. It’s not fair, look at poor Matthew.’
Tina’s friend Grace Keegan tried to push her away but she stabbed David Walsh in the neck. The knife hit the left side of his neck, causing a cut under his jawline. Police and paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Judge Johnson said that Mr Walsh’s behaviour that night was ‘ the last straw’ for Cahill.
With the maximum prison sentence for manslaughter being 25 years, Cahill was said to have been ‘content’ with the sentence handed down.
Solicitor James Trevallion said his client was ‘a model prisoner and has one of the most trusted jobs in prison.’
‘Everyone is happy that the matter has now been finalised and Tina will serve her time,’ he added.
Perhaps not so ‘ happy’ will be David’s family back in Enniscorthy, who are facing into another Christmas without their father brother and son. A member of the family refused to comment on the sentencing, saying that it had been a tremendously difficult couple of years, both with Motcha’s death in February of 2017 and the passing of his father John ‘Jonners’ Walsh after a battle with cancer.
John passed away on his birthday, not even a year after laying his beloved son to rest after bringing his body home from the other side of the world, and his first anniversary occurred last week.
While the sentencing, to a certain extent, will draw a line under matters, Ms Cahill’s imprisonment will provide scant consolation as they face the prospect of another difficult Christmas without David.
I AM NOT SATISFIED BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT THAT THE OFFENDER INTENDED TO KILL MR WALSH