A 24-YEAR-OLD woman was jailed for five years yesterday for helping to dispose of the body of man who was put in the boot of his own car.
Sinéad Geraghty of Parkview, Blackcastle, Navan, Co Meath, had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to assisting an offender on May 17th, 2009.
She was caught on CCTV camera helping Stephen Penrose to bundle the body of David Sharkey into the boot of the victim’s BMW, after Penrose had stabbed him to death in her apartment. She then cleaned up the crime scene while Penrose drove the body to Dublin. The pair had lured Sharkey to the apartment to buy heroin from him.
However, Penrose had planned to steal it and when his plan went wrong, he stabbed his victim 13 times. He was found guilty of manslaughter after being tried for murder earlier this year and was jailed for nine years.
The victim’s mother, Ann Sharkey, told the court this was the second violent death for her family to suffer. Her son Simon (18) was stabbed to death at a party in 2005.
“Our family as a group have been unable to bear the burden of two such tragic losses,” she said. “Myself and my husband feel that it is no longer worth living our lives as to have two of your children taken from you is a burden no parent should ever be forced to bear. We feel that we are living a life sentence ourselves and that we are unable to break free from it.”
She said the pain and fear her first-born son must have felt as he was stabbed to death in Geraghty’s apartment caused her much pain and sorrow. The way his body was treated also caused the family much grief and hurt.
“He was treated like an animal and thrown into the boot of his own car and taken to Dublin where he was to be burned.”
She said her other children had not been able to come to terms with the loss of their brother and that her husband’s severe depression and high blood pressure had been exacerbated by the killing.
She said her son was a hard-working and loving father and his family had no idea of his involvement in drugs until after his death. He did not lead a lavish lifestyle, lived in rented accommodation and had a car loan. He adored his eight-year-old daughter but did not live to see his second daughter’s birth.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed a seven-year sentence but suspended the final two years due to Geraghty’s guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and her good use of her time in prison so far.
Mrs Sharkey said afterwards they had not got justice for their son. It was horrific for any mother to hear about her son being lured up to an apartment to be stabbed 13 times. “We’re living the life sentence. They’re going to get out. That’s the annoying part. They’re told rehabilitate yourselves. We can never do that. They get away with everything and we’re left to carry on.” She said she and her husband had to try to carry on for their other children.
“You expect your children to bury their parents, not the other way around. It’s every mother’s nightmare.” She hoped Geraghty would not suffer the same fate as her. “I hope when Sinéad does get out and when she has a family of her own, she remembers us. And that someone wouldn’t put her through the heartbreak that she has put us through if she ever becomes a mother.”