A 33-year-old Kerry man has been jailed for life for the double murder of a father and son in their home three years ago.
Thomas Barrett of Causeway, Co Kerry pleaded guilty to murdering 60-year-old farmer Michael Hanrahan and his 27-year-old son, Denis Hanrahan, a plasterer.
Det Insp Daniel Keane told the Central Criminal Court that Barrett shot them several times in their farmhouse just outside Moyvane in Kerry on March 26th, 2008.
He explained that Barrett had attended Pallaskenry Agricultural College with Denis Hanrahan in the late 1990s. During the following five or six years, he became a frequent caller in the Hanrahan home, about 40km from his own home.
Although Barrett was sometimes considered withdrawn and uncommunicative, he often stayed over and had meals with the Hanrahans, a quiet, well respected, hard-working family. However he stopped visiting about a year before he committed the murders.
“He (Barrett) perceived some slight,” explained the detective inspector. “Mr Hanrahan Snr phoned Mr Barrett Snr and said he thought Mr Barrett seemed a bit down. It seemed to fester.”
Shortly after 11pm on March 26th 2008, Barrett took his pump-action shotgun from its safe and put on an army camouflage vest, which contained six cartridges. He got into his car, where he had an army rucksack containing
another 50 cartridges, a hunting knife and a crossbow.
He then drove to the cul-de-sac on which the Hanrahans lived, where he aroused the suspicions of a neighbour and turned around. The neighbour followed him for some distance.
Barrett later returned to the Hanrahan bungalow and let himself in. The key was in the back door as was usual. He found his old college friend in bed and shot him in the leg.
This woke Michael Hanrahan, who went to his son’s bedroom. In the meantime, Barrett went to the living room to reload his gun. He returned to the bedroom and shot both men dead.
Barrett fired eight shots. Four hit the father and three hit the son. The other shot went through the door and hit the bed.
“The pump-action shotgun had to be reloaded three times,” said Det Insp Daniel Keane. “It could hold only three cartridges.”
Barrett then went to the bedroom of the house’s other occupant, Denis Hanrahan’s sister. He turned on the light but there was nobody there and he drove home.
Before he left his car, he injected himself with an anti-anxiety drugs used to treat pigs. He went into the house and called out for his mother, who came downstairs and found him getting sick. He was taken to hospital and was
transferred voluntarily from the A&E to the psychiatric ward.
At 7.30am, Denis Hanrahan’s workmate went to the farmhouse when the plasterer failed to turn up to meet him for a lift. He heard his colleague’s mobile phone ringing inside but didn’t go in.
A cousin and neighbour was passing by. He went inside and discovered the bodies.
Three days later, Barrett confirmed to his psychiatrist that he was involved in the murders. He was arrested and admitted to the killings. However he was unable to give any good reason for wanting to kill Denis Hanrahan, his first target.
The Central Mental Hospital examined Barrett and found no mental disorder but found traits of pervasive resentment and a sensitivity to slights on his character.
Denis Hanrahan’s twin brother gave a victim impact statement on behalf of his three sisters and himself. Their mother had died in 1996.
“Human life is sacred,” said Shane Hanrahan. “Murder causes chaos.”
He said that words could never explain the pain his family felt the day their father and brother were brutally murdered. He said the murders had done “an incalculable mount of damage” and that the repercussions were immeasurable.
He said occasions such as Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries were a cruel, harsh reminder of their intense pain. “Dad’s and Denis’s murders have cast a dark shadow over our home on the hill,” he said, adding that there was no justification for their murders.
The Barrett family expressed their deepest sympathy to the Hanrahan family through Patrick Marrinan SC, defending. Mr Marrinan said his client had asked him to express his regret.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed two life sentences on Barrett to run concurrently.
Afterwards, Shane Hanrahan and his sisters left court without making any comment.