Finally, a sign of respect in the court

Darren Goodwin looked cool and untroubled as the judge heard submissions on his murder sentence, but his demeanour was at least respectful.

Everybody agreed this was a big improvement on the trial last July, during which the 16-year-old seemed utterly indifferent to the proceedings.

When the defence yesterday called his mother Olive Goodwin to apologise for her son's demeanour during the eight-day case, and to detail her failed attempts to correct it, Judge Barry White interrupted to say that, if anything, the defence was "understating" how bad her son's attitude was.

As yesterday's hearing opened, the convicted murderer sat quietly between two burly prison officers. He exchanged glances with his parents - again a transformation from the trial, when he refused to communicate with his family in any way.

And although he showed no emotion then or during the statement by his teenage victim's mother, his expression remained just on the polite side of neutral throughout.

He looked at his lap when the court was reminded of how, on November 11th last year, he "lured" Daragh Conroy (14) to the banks of a river near Mountmellick, Co Laois, and "struck him over the head approximately seven times with a hammer".

But when Patricia Conroy spoke of the hours she spent trying to contact her only child on his mobile phone (stolen by Goodwin), and of her later "terror" at seeing him in his coffin, the most pronounced emotions in court were hers and those of female friends and relatives, sobbing quietly at the back.

The defendant's parents, who are estranged but sat together during the hearing, are strikingly young. His father could pass for an older brother, and his mother could be a sister.

Olive Goodwin was only 16 when her son was born, the same age he is now. She shook her head as Garda Gerry Cawley gave the defendant's date of birth, but she stopped shaking it as he described the young man's early years, shared between her's and his grandparents' homes, before he was sent to live with his father outside Mountmellick.

Ms Goodwin spoke of a "vast change" in his demeanour since the trial, but she agreed with counsel that his action in murdering Daragh Conroy were "totally" beyond her understanding.