Dublin woman to be sentenced for assisting murderer

A 25-year-old mother or two will be sentenced next week for assisting an offender following a killing near Portland Row in the Dublin.

Laura Dempsey of no fixed address, but originally from Ballyfermot, was charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of the person she believed was guilty of murdering 33-year-old Kieran Farrelly on October 26th, 2014.

She was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court last month and pleaded guilty to the offence, which included assisting in the concealment of a shotgun used in the killing at Killarney Court, Killarney Street.

Dempsey had also been charged with the offence of murder itself, but had that charge dismissed, after making an application under Section 4E of the Criminal Justice Act 1999.

Detective Garda Gary Moran testified that she had 59 previous convictions, including for drugs possession and possession of a knife. Some 20 of these convictions were subsequent to the shooting.

He said that she had a heroin addiction and that her previous convictions were attributable to this, with a large number for theft.

Det Garda Moran said members of Mr Farrelly’s family were in court and two victim impact statements had been prepared. However, these were not read.

He agreed with Remy Farrell SC, defending, that the gardaí had an understanding of what had happened to Mr Farrelly because his client had given them a full account.

He handed in a psychiatric report, which detailed ongoing flashbacks she had of the shooting. He said that this might put into context the convictions dating from after the event.

The report also showed she had been admitted to hospital for clinical depression just a week before the killing.

He said many of the aggravating features often associated with such offences were absent in this case. He said there was just transient possession of the weapon and she made full admissions voluntarily.

“There’s a pronounced element of duress, a powerful mitigating factor,” he said.

Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, told Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy t the maximum sentence for the offence was 10 years.

She said she needed some time to consider the material handed in and remanded her in custody for sentencing next Monday.