Precisely why Andy Cash inflicted such depraved violence on his three siblings may never be known

‘He didn’t seem to care about what he had just done,’ one source said

Footage from bystanders and testimony given in court revealed the true scale of the horror that unfolded in a small Dublin housing estate where two children and a teenager were murdered at the hands of their older brother.

The agonising cries of a woman could be heard as armed gardaí pleaded with the killer to stop, screaming at him: “Andy, show us your f***ing hands.”

While the utter carnage that occurred in the early hours of September 4, 2022, is now evident, exactly why twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley (8) and their sister Lisa Cash (18) suffered such depraved violence will never be fully known.

Andrew ‘Andy’ Cash had spent the previous evening socialising at a family gathering, dancing and drinking seemingly without a care in the world.

At one stage during the festivities the then 24-year-old began making comments about deceased family members which made those present feel uncomfortable.

He hailed a taxi and returned to the family home on Rossfield Avenue in Tallaght, asking the driver to wait while he went into the house.

Cash had previously been investigated for an assault on a family member and had also been ordered to stay away from the property.

His half-siblings Chelsea and Christy, twins from their mother’s more recent relationship, were asleep in bed while Lisa was watching Netflix in another room.

She was heard telling her older brother that she did not have any money, and that he should not be in the house.

The taxi driver, who was still waiting outside, heard a scream and Andy Cash emerged from the property, telling him to phone 999.

Emergency services swarmed onto the scene where footage recorded by bystanders gave a harrowing account of the devastation that unfolded.

One video showed a torch being pointed at a top floor window with gardaí shouting “don’t do it” before a window is heard smashing.

Det Gda Robert Whitty gave evidence in court this week that Cash threw a television from the top floor and then dangled a child, who appeared lifeless, out of the window before dropping him to the ground.

Gardaí gained entry and used nonlethal weapons to subdue the suspect, who was still acting aggressively and holding a large knife.

Lisa was recovered at the bottom of the stairs and had suffered 71 slash and stab injuries.

Her young sister Chelsea had been stabbed and slashed 65 times, while Christy was recovered from the front garden and had suffered 107 sharp force injuries.

Detectives took Andy Cash into custody and he was given medical treatment before being interviewed.

It’s understood that he was remorseless and showed no empathy, with one source saying: “[Cash] didn’t seem care about what he had done.”

On September 5, he appeared before a special sitting of the Dublin District Court to be formally charged with the murders.

Cash looked around the courtroom at times but showed no emotion.

While he had been known to gardaí, there was nothing in his past to suggest violence of such a level.

This week he was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court on three murder charges, standing up and only responding “guilty” to each count.

Through his barrister, senior counsel Brendan Grehan, he said he was sorry for his actions and the people he had hurt, before being handed three concurrent life sentences.

It spared his family the further trauma of a trial, but questions remain surrounding how and why a person could commit such horrific acts.

The unimaginable heartbreak suffered by the victims’ mother Margaret McDonagh was heard in a powerful victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing.

“Our three innocent children were viciously taken from us and that was the day the world stopped turning.

“What is left is our broken family and every day since has been unbearable,” she wrote in a statement along with other family members.

“It’s been two birthdays, two Christmases and two of every occasion that we have spent without them.

“We miss everything about them, hearing their voices, their laughs, the conversations we would have, the games we would play, the hugs and kisses that we won’t ever get from them again.

“The only thing that hurts more than losing them is knowing how much they have missed out on, how they never got to finish school with their friends or learn how to drive a car or get the chance to see the world.

“It’s not just what was taken from us that hurts, it’s how their whole lives were taken from them, before they even had a chance to live them.”

While Andy Cash will spend many decades behind bars, the families of Christy, Chelsea and Lisa “will live with this unbearable heartache and pain” for the rest of their lives.

‘While he had been known to gardaí, there was nothing to hint at such violence’