Man who murdered girlfriend jailed for life

A 37-year-old man has been jailed for life for murdering a woman he had known for three months and setting fire to her house in Co Cork.

Darren Murphy of Dan Desmond Villas, Passage West, Co Cork had pleaded not guilty to murdering Olivia Dunlea (36) at Pembroke Crescent, Passage West, on February 17th, 2013, though he admitted killing her to gardaí.

Murphy, who said he set fire to Ms Dunlea’s home because, he claimed, he “didn’t want the kids to find her”, had pleaded guilty to a second charge of arson.

A jury in the Central Criminal Court took 4½ hours to find him guilty of murder yesterday by a majority of 10-to-one (one juror had been excused from service earlier in the trial). There were sobs from Ms Dunlea’s family as the verdict was read out, while Murphy, who held his right hand to his face throughout the trial, had no reaction.

Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence on the accused, backdating it to February 19th, 2013, when he was taken into custody. The judge further remanded Murphy in custody until June 18th in respect of the arson charge.

‘Snapped’

The judge thanked the remaining seven men and four women of the jury.

The seven-day trial heard that for about three months, mother-of-three Ms Dunlea and Murphy had been “an item”. On the Saturday night before her death, the pair had a good time in the Rochestown Inn but had “a massive row” when they got home.

According to Murphy’s statements to gardaí, Ms Dunlea threw keys at the accused and told him to get out. She allegedly told him a former lover was calling. Murphy told gardaí that he “snapped” and stabbed her six times in the neck before setting fire to the house.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy believed Ms Dunlea was alive when the fire started as she had inhaled toxic fumes and her body position suggested she made no attempt to escape the fire.

In his closing speech to the jury, prosecuting counsel Thomas Creed SC, said Murphy could have called emergency services to try and save her.

‘Kindness and love

’ Counsel said Murphy “watched from Church Hill above, like Nero, as the house burned with Olivia in it”.

Having received the inevitable phone call, Murphy came back “full of crocodile tears knowing full well what had happened”, Mr Creed said.

“If you think it’s credible that he lit the house on fire to spare the kids from seeing her, I suggest a far more credible explanation was that he was attempting to cover up what he had done,” Mr Creed said.

It was “one big concocted lie to try and confound the people around him,” counsel said.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ann Dunlea, Olivia’s mother, said: “On February 17th, 2013, my family’s life changed beyond repair.Since the killing of our daughter we have been living our own life sentence of anger and grief sickened by how depraved and disgusting a human being can be.

“Olivia . . . loved life and everything it had to offer. The sparkle in her eyes and radiant smile displayed this vibrancy, which was also reflected in her work as a playschool teacher. Olivia had so much kindness and love to share but this was stolen from her.”

Olivia’s three teenage children were her treasures who never left their mother’s side, Ms Dunlea said. “Words cannot express the pain I hold in my heart watching my grandchildren struggle without the presence of their mother’s love and touch.”

Speaking outside the court, Ms Dunlea thanked the gardaí and liaison officer Michelle Barron, without whom they would have been “lost”.