A woman who assaulted a man who was subsequently murdered by her partner and then helped to burn the dead man’s clothes was described as having “an appalling childhood” during her sentencing at the Central Criminal Court today.
Victoria Moverley (32), of no fixed abode, was found guilty last year of assaulting Renars Tuleiko (32), causing him serious harm, at Parnell Park, Thurles, Co Tipperary on a date unknown between April 13th and 15th, 2007.
She was also found guilty of burning Mr Tuleiko’s clothes after he had been murdered by Kevin Keohane, her partner.
Mr Justice Barry White sentenced Moverley to five years in prison for burning Mr Tuleiko’s clothes and eighteen months for the assault, both sentences backdated to November 2007 and to run concurrently.
During the trial, the court heard that Moverley and Keohane had been living in a tent at Parnell Park, Thurles for two weeks before the murder.
Keohane stabbed Mr Tuleiko, a Latvian mechanic, during a drunken row before he and Moverley burned the deceased man’s clothes and fled to England.
The court heard today that Moverley was born in Yorkshire, England, grew up in a New Age Traveller encampment and, at a very young age, was exposed to alcohol and substance abuse.
She has three children, all of whom are living in care in Ireland.
Patrick Marrinan SC, prosecuting, told the court that Moverley was nine years old when her mother took her and her siblings to a New Age Traveller convoy.
“She was taken out of home and school and lived in the back of a van on a mattress. She lived with drunken and drugged-out hippies who were up half the night. It was an appalling situation,” he said.
“She was introduced to hash at the age of nine and, not long after, LSD. By the age of 14 she was pregnant with her first child, to a man ten years her senior. She had a second child with the same man when she was 16. She had a third child with a different man.
“Throughout her life she has been addicted to heroin, cannabis and, latterly, alcohol,” Mr Marrinan added. “She had moved between Ireland and Britain but had returned to Ireland to try to get her children back.”
About the time of the murder, Moverley and Keohane were “trying to present themselves as a family unit to health services in the hope of getting the children back.”
In her statement to gardaí, when asked who was responsible for the murder, Ms Moverley said: “I blame all of us for getting into that state. We were all supposed to be mates.”
Mr Justice Barry White said that he “could not ignore or fail to have sympathy with her appalling childhood and the appalling upbringing she had.”
He said, however, that the court “could not tolerate the offer of assistance to others whereby it might enable them to evade justice. It seems to me you acted out of a misguided sense of loyalty to your partner.
“It is clear a considerable quantity of drink was involved and it is well known how drink adversely affects the reasoning process.”
Mr Justice White did not agree with the DPP that the burning of the clothes was at the severe end of the scale. “It is clear you have genuine remorse,” he said.
Moverley has previous convictions for road traffic offences and minor public order offences. She has a conviction in England for credit card deception.