Life in jail for teen who killed Melanie
Bragged about fatal gunshots in cell wall graffiti
A TEENAGER who bragged about shooting Melanie McCarthy McNamara has been sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
Melanie, 16, was shot in the head as she sat in the back of a car in Tallaght two years ago.
After being arrested, her killer – 19-year- old Daniel McDonnell – wrote about her death in graffiti on his cell wall and in letters which prison guards intercepted.
His writings included: ‘Closerange head shots. That’s what I’m going for… Two in the head. The b**** is dead.’
McDonnell had denied her murder but a jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday found him guilty following the sevenday trial.
Melanie’s parents Stephen McCarthy and Melissa McNamara did not attend court, but had asked McDonnell to explain why he had ‘shattered their world’ by taking away a ‘dream daughter’.
Melanie’s godmother Jennifer Roche gave an emotional victim impact statement on behalf of the dead teenager’s family.
‘Our Melanie was a girl who lived life and never got a chance to live it,’ she said. ‘They should have
‘She never got a chance to live life’
taken us too. She was her mother’s best friend… Melissa feels if she died tomorrow, it would not be too soon,’ she continued. ‘She was every mother’s dream daughter. She was Melissa’s life, her world, her everything.’
Melanie’s l ast words to her mother were: ‘Bye Mummy, I’ll be in early in the morning.’
‘To hear their little girl was shot in the head shattered their world,’ Ms Roche said. ‘If the man in front of us has a heart, he will tell us why he took her from us.’
The trial had heard that a stolen black Hyundai Santa Fe had pulled up alongside the car in which Melanie was sitting in the back seat. A shot was fired from the Hyundai and Melanie was hit in the head.
Her boyfriend, Christopher Moran, and his friend Seán Byrne – who were both in the car – brought her to hospital. However, she died a short time later due to the shot gun wound to her left temple.
The Hyundai was found abandoned and out of fuel in Citywest shortly after the shooting. The stolen sawn-off shotgun and two discharged cartridges were recov- ered nearby. There were no fingerprints on the vehicle, weapon or cartridges.
McDonnell, of Brookview Lawns in Tallaght, was one of two men arrested on suspicion of the murder the following week.
He was detained at Tallaght Garda Station and made no comment to questions in more than a dozen interviews. Instead, he wrote graffiti on his cell wall which included: ‘Two in the head. The b**** is dead ha ha… Moran sc***y k*****r… Moran sc**.’ The State said that ‘Moran’ was a references to Melanie’s boyfriend. A few weeks later, while detained in St Patrick’s Institution, McDonnell continued to brag about his involvement in the murder, this time in two letters.
He handed the letters to a prison officer for posting. After reading them, as is protocol, staff passed the letters on to the gardaí.
The first one, addressed to Lee McDonnell, included the lines: ‘Close-range head shots. That’s what I’m going for… Two in the head. The b**** is dead. Ha ha… Little did he know I had a loaded 12-guage. Left his b**** all over the Sunday World front page.’
In the second letter, to former girlfriend Stephanie Tuite, he wrote: ‘That other thing wouldn’t have happened if I’d known she was in the car. It was meant for that other smell bag. He won’t get away with bullying my Ma.’
McDonnell’s barrister had described his client’s writings as simply ‘rants to his friend and girlfriend’. He named two Irish men, who had confessed to murders they had not committed.
However, the prosecution said there was no explanation other than admissions of guilt.
After almost four hours and 20 minutes, the jury reached a unanimous verdict of guilty. McDonnell gave no reaction.
Superintendent Brian Sutton then outlined McDonell’s previous convictions, which included possession of firearms and ammunition i n suspicious circumstances, threatening to kill or cause serious harm, and violent behaviour in a garda station. He said McDonnell had a disruptive history and upbringing and had left school at 14.
Judge Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder. McDonnell is the second man convicted of Melanie’s killing. Last July Keith Hall, of Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght, south Dublin, was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to her manslaughter.
After Hall was jailed, friends and f amily of Melanie celebrated outside the court.