Nightmare goes on for two Midleton families who were formerly neighbours

Another day, another courtroom, but the same sad faces

Another day, another courtroom, but the same sad faces. For Mark and Majella Holohan, yesterday was but another step along the seemingly unending trail of tears they have travelled since their son, Robert, died at the hands of their next-door neighbour, Wayne O'Donoghue 18 months ago, wriotes Barry Roche

Accompanied by Robert's uncles, David Holohan and Aidan Murray, Mark and Majella slipped quietly into the high ceilinged surroundings of Courtroom No 3 at the Four Courts just before 11am yesterday to hear the DPP explain why the four-year sentence was unduly lenient.

Majella looked on anxiously as Ms Justice Fidelma Macken intervened quickly to caution prosecution counsel Shane Murphy SC about the dangers of revisiting O'Donoghue's conviction for the manslaughter of her son. Beside her, Mark Holohan stared into the middle distance, seemingly lost in thought.

It was as if this latest visit to court, like those to the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and Ennis, was just another unreal episode in their never-ending nightmare .

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The past 18 months have seen the Holohans transformed from a happily anonymous family from Midleton in Co Cork to the instantly recognised parents of a young boy whose death at the hands of the friend and neighbour he idolised shocked the nation.

Dressed in a dark-charcoal grey suit and light-grey shirt and tie, Wayne O'Donoghue looked heavier than he had during his trial last December. He was a much-changed figure from the slight, young engineering student first charged with Robert's manslaughter in January 2005.

Heavier now of both build and face, he turned around to chat to his parents, Ray and Therese, before the hearing when, as for much of his trial, he sat with his head in his hands as he listened to the various arguments made by prosecution and defence counsels.

Two hours of submissions later, judgment would be deferred. It became clear that this visit to the Court of Criminal Appeal may not be the last time the former neighbours would end up across each other in a courtroom.

For both families, the waiting must continue.