A savage murder ... and the destruction of innocence
Ros Na Rún actress remembers her best friend Siobhán Hynes ahead of documentary
AN actress has revealed the agony she still suffers following the murder of her best friend two decades ago.
Former Ros Na Rún star Sorcha Ní Chéide said she had never got over the rape and killing of 17-yearold Siobhán Hynes in Connemara in 1998.
The teenager had been turned away from a nightclub for being too young when she was offered a lift to a chip shop by a local man she knew, John McDonagh.
But the builder’s labourer drove the girl, who had celebrated her birthday just a week before, to an isolated spot on the coast where he raped and choked her, then dumped her body in the sea near Carraroe, Co. Galway.
Now friends and family relive the night that tore a community apart in a TG4 documentary, Tocht Na Máthar, on Wednesday night.
Her parents, Aindi and Bríd
‘It was an innocent place and then this happened’
Hynes, tell how the murder of their daughter destroyed their lives. And, in an exclusive interview, Siobhán’s best friend Sorcha has said the trusting community in Carraroe, Co. Galway, was never the same again.
‘It’s a beautiful area where everyone kind of knew each other,’ said Sorcha, 37.
‘It was a lovely, lovely time up until then. People would leave their doors open and you would not think twice if someone stopped to give you a lift. It was an innocent place and then this tragedy happened on December 6, 1998.’
When she couldn’t get into the local club, Siobhán decided to go to a local chip shop as she needed the bathroom. McDonagh, then 24, offered her the fateful lift, but turned off onto a tiny road before getting to the chipper.
Gardaí launched a murder hunt after her body was discovered the following day by a man walking his dog, but it was six months before McDonagh was arrested.
Sorcha said: ‘He was a local and Siobhán knew him a little bit, we all knew him a bit, so it was shocking. The trial was about two years later and thankfully he was convicted of murder and is still in prison.’
McDonagh, now 44, was sentenced to life by the Central Criminal Court in 2001.
Sorcha said: ‘I was 17 and a few months at the time it happened, very young. I coped pretty badly. I did not understand and everyone was very angry and I was very angry – and am still very angry.
‘She just wanted to go to the bathroom so she started walking towards the chipper, which is down in the village and he stopped and gave her a lift before this certain road and he took a right and took her to a very secluded area.
‘He had been involved in an altercation earlier that night and had been cautioned by gardaí. He was a pretty dark individual.
‘It could have been anybody. She was very young and would never judge anybody. She was bighearted, a beautiful girl. It’s horrible what happened. It tore up the community. He was convicted after a six-week trial, which was very tough as well.’
The court heard that McDonagh, who pleaded his innocence, was a drunk with a history of violence.
Sorcha said: ‘This documentary was very difficult to do. It affected me a lot more than I had anticipated. You think time is a healer but sometimes it’s not.’
‘Her parents are amazing people and they are still trying to cope as well as they can. They talk to the documentary which is very brave of them.
‘It was about what it was like at the time and how people dealt with it, how people tried to move on.’
‘I was very angry, and am still very angry’
Tocht Na Máthar will be shown on TG4 on Wednesday evening at 10.20pm.