The family of 21-year-old engineering student Wayne O'Donoghue have attempted to assure the family of 11-year-old schoolboy Robert Holohan that nothing improper happened between them, writes Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent
Ray and Therese O'Donoghue have written an open letter to try and assure their former neighbours Mark and Majella Holohan that the death of Robert at the hands of their son Wayne was entirely accidental.
Mr O'Donoghue addresses the concerns raised by Mrs Holohan at Wayne O'Donoghue's sentence hearing at the Central Criminal Court, in particular Mrs Holohan's concern that semen was found on Robert's body. "She raised in particular the matter of the forensic evidence. The O'Donoghue family were relieved to note that she did not in fact suggest or state that there was any link between our son and the material," said Mr O'Donoghue in his open letter.
He said a number of forensic scientists carried out a detailed analysis of this material and they could not link the material to his son. "If they could have, this evidence would have been submitted in court," he said.
"Therese and I, Wayne's parents, know for a fact, and Wayne has consistently confirmed, that nothing improper took place between himself and Robert," said Mr O'Donoghue in the open letter published in yesterday's Sunday Tribune.
"As regards Mrs Holohan's other concerns, all we can say is that these were dealt with during the trial," said Mr O'Donoghue who has moved with his family from their home near the Holohans at Ballyedmond, Midleton to the Whitegate area some miles away.
In his open letter, Mr O'Donoghue, who also has two younger sons, Timmy and Nicky, said that some "media coverage has painted a picture so far removed from the truth that it is almost unbearable for us as a family. The O'Donoghue family wish to extend their deepest sympathy to the Holohan family on Robert's accidental death. We too mourn Rob and he is remembered daily in our prayers," concluded Mr O'Donoghue.
Meanwhile, senior gardaí involved in the case and O'Donoghue's solicitor Frank Buttimer have dismissed as incorrect a report in a Sunday newspaper that a sample of a second semen type was found in Robert's hand. According to gardaí there was one type of semen found in a swab taken from Robert's left palm by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy during her postmortem on the young boy's body. The very small sample was initially sent to the State Forensic Laboratory for analysis but scientists decided it should be sent to the British government Forensic Science Service laboratory in Yorkshire. Staff there under Dr Jonathan Whitaker analysed the sample and found initially that there was a 70 million to one chance of it belonging to anyone other than Wayne O'Donoghue.
However, when gardaí forwarded a second semen sample taken from a mat found in the O'Donoghue house, Dr Whitaker found it was not identical to the sample from Robert's hand and expressed some doubts about his first report and amended his conclusions.