Family of strangling victim to be ‘haunted forever’ by death

The grieving sister of a woman whose body was dumped in the ocean by her killer wept in court on Monday as she told how her family will be “haunted forever” by the death.

Deirdre McCarthy’s strangulated body was found washed up on Fanore Beach, Co Clare, on March 31st, 2011.

Colm Deely (45), of School Road, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of 43-year-old Ms McCarthy, at a place unknown, on or about March 28th, 2011.

His plea was accepted by the State at a previous hearing.

Reading a victim impact statement on behalf of the family, Ms McCarthy’s sister Helen Geoghegan told the Central Criminal Court: “Dee was a kind, easy-going person who lived a very, happy ordinary life.

“There was no fuss from Dee,” she said. “Only at Christmas, and her birthday, her favourite times in the year. Dee made time for everyone.”

Describing the effect her killing had on the family, Ms Geoghegan said: “There are so many lives impacted by this terrible crime. To us she was a daughter, a sister, an aunt.

‘Miss her so much’

“She loved nothing more than spending time with her family and friends, her nieces and nephews, whom she adored. We all miss her so much, and it is still so hard for us to understand what happened to her on that night. Sadly we never will.”

Ms Geoghegan also said their mother “died of a broken heart, as she never recovered from what happened to Dee”.

She described the family’s anguish over the death, saying “sleepless nights are now part of our daily lives”.

She said: “It is almost six years since Dee’s life was taken from us in such a horrific way. It terrifies us to think of what she went through.

“How frightened she must have been, as she was beaten and strangled to death and her body dumped in such a cold and heartless way.

“He [Deely] said that he could hear her body crash off the rocks and falling into the ocean. Yet he walked away.”

“Dee’s death,” she added, “destroyed us all inside. It has broken our hearts. In our darker moments, we can’t help but relive what happened to her that night. This will haunt us forever.

‘Life taken so brutally’

“She did not deserve to die. She did not deserve to have her life taken so brutally and her body thrown into the ocean.”

Ms Geoghegan also said her family’s grief was compounded by the fact Deely had gone to work alongside Ms McCarthy’s brother hours after killing her and disposing of the body.

She said: “In the following days he carried on with his life as normal. In fact, the very next day he went to work with our brother Thomas and asked him was Deidre at home with our mother.

“At this time, Thomas hadn’t realised that Dee was missing. This baffles us. How could he not show any remorse, knowing what he has done?”

Earlier, Garda Supt John Galvin told prosecution counsel Paul Greene SC that four days before Ms McCarthy’s body washed up on Fanore Beach, she had spent the evening socialising with friends.

Supt Galvin said Deely had been part of the group the deceased was drinking with in Logues public house in nearby Ballyvaughan and the pair had been “observed on CCTV chatting to one another”.

He said that both the accused and Ms McCarthy had known each other since childhood and although they left the pub separately that evening, they had agreed to meet later that night at the guesthouse where Ms McCarthy lived and worked.

Days later, the garda said, Deely admitted to officers that he killed Ms McCarthy before driving her “body to a coastal area near Ballyvaughan” where he “put her body in the sea”.

The court was told that the cause of death was “manual strangulation”.

‘Explosion of violence’

Defence counsel Sean Gillane SC told the court his client “accepts that on this night he caused her death” in an “explosion of violence” by “using his hands on her neck”.

He said Deely had worked as a plant-hire operator, had been an active member of the Ballyvaughan community and that his family had “deep roots” in the area.

After being told Deely had previously been convicted of Ms McCarthy’s murder but that conviction had been quashed, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy asked if this was because “serious questions arose over evidence that wasn’t considered sufficiently reliable for the prosecution?”

Mr Greene replied that that was the case.

Mr Justice McCarthy remanded Deely in custody and adjourned sentencing until March 20th.