A second man has pleaded guilty to assisting an offender by helping in the movement and disposal of the body parts of murdered Co Louth teenager Keane Mulready-Woods.
The 17-year-old’s dismembered remains were discovered in Dublin almost six years ago.
Stephen Carberry (47), of Sandymount Avenue, Dublin 4, was arraigned before the non-jury Special Criminal Court on Monday.
He replied “guilty” to a charge that on a date between January 13th, 2020 and January 15th, 2020, within the State, knowing or believing another person to be guilty of the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods or some other arrestable offence, he did without reasonable excuse an act with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of that other person.
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John Byrne SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the three-judge court that Carberry could be arraigned on count two – the offence of assisting an offender – and a nolle prosequi (a decision not to proceed) would be entered on the two remaining counts on the indictment.
Mr Byrne said while the act was not particularised in count two on the indictment, it was that Carberry had participated in or contributed to the transportation and disposal of the teenager’s body parts.
Presiding judge Ms Justice Karen O’Connor directed a victim impact statement and adjourned the matter until January 19th. Carberry was remanded in custody.
Cathal McGreal BL, defending, asked the court to direct a urine analysis, a letter from the prison medic and an educational report on behalf of his client, which was acceded to.
Carberry faced two other charges in relation to the death of the teenager, who was murdered in a house in Drogheda, Co Louth, in January 2020.
The DPP will enter a nolle prosequi in due course in relation to those further charges on the indictment against Carberry; participating in or contributing to the transportation and disposal of the teenager’s body parts for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a criminal organisation to commit murder, and setting fire to a Volvo V40 motorcar for the benefit of a criminal organisation.
Glen Bride (32), of Mount Olive Park, Kilbarrick, Dublin 5, last week pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to assisting in the movement and disposal of the murdered teenager’s body parts.
Keane Mulready-Woods was last seen alive in Drogheda on January 12th, 2020. Some of the teenager’s body parts were found in a sports bag in the Moatview area of Coolock in Dublin the following day. Two days later, remains were found in a burning car in a laneway in the Drumcondra area.
His torso was discovered on March 11th, 2020, hidden in an overgrown ravine during a search of waste-ground at Rathmullan Park, Drogheda, near where the teenager was believed to have been murdered.
On January 14th, 2020, gardaí went to the home of Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna (55) in Rathmullan Park in Drogheda, which DNA and blood spatter evidence confirmed was the site of Keane’s murder. McKenna was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to assisting in the clean-up of the crime scene.
In February 2023, the Special Criminal Court jailed Drogheda criminal Paul Crosby for 10 years for facilitating the “disgraceful and inhuman” murder.
Crosby’s co-accused, Gerard Cruise, was considered by the court to be at a lower level and received a sentence of 7½ years with the final six months suspended for two years.
The court had previously heard that the chief suspect for the murder was Robert Lawlor, a “notorious” criminal who was linked to several murders. Lawlor was shot dead in Belfast in April 2020.
At the time of Keane Mulready Woods’ murder, Lawlor was “heavily involved in a feud between rival criminal gangs in Drogheda”, the court heard.
