Man kills self after wife murder bid
The 42-year-old father of four was said to have been suffering from severe depression and had attempted suicide a short time ago.
A quick acting child raised the alarm and consequently saved Josephine Treanor from certain death. The woman was treated for serious neck and head injuries.
Villagers in Scotstown, Co Monaghan, expressed their horror over the incident and said the Treanors appeared to have been devoted to each other.
The body of Malachy ‘Briney’ Treanor was found hanging from a tree in a wooded area not far from his home on Saturday morning.
Mr Treanor, a motor mechanic, attempted to kill his wife at their Knockatallon home before he fled from the scene.
The emergency services were called by one of the Treanors’s children. Mrs Treanor, who is actively involved in Scotstown and Clones development associations, is recovering at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
The couple’s three boys and one girl have been staying with relatives since the tragedy unfolded.
The local parish priest Fr Brian Earley said: “It is a terrible loss. The whole village and community is in shock.”
“Thank God one of the kids was there to help her, otherwise it would have been a double tragedy,” one local said.
“It seems that he thought Josephine was dead when he went to the forest to do away with himself.”
