‘Wayne is quite upset at some of the coverage’
Mr Buttimer breaks off for a minute or two and talks to his client in the Midlands Prison. O’Donoghue is not happy over media coverage of Majella Holohan’s explosive allegations against him.
He wants to sue over some of the press coverage. He’s particularly unhappy with The Sun, a tabloid of some circulation in the prison. It said he was a sex offender.
Moments after speaking to O’Donoghue, Mr Buttimer told the Irish Examiner: “He is very vexed about the inaccurate media reports in certain outlets. He is aware of it but does not get them (the newspapers).”
Mr Buttimer says O’Donoghue has instructed him to initiate legal action against The Sun. He said his client was not a “sex offender”.
“It’s an absolutely outrageous suggestion, it’s baseless, it’s without foundation, it’s not true and it will be dealt with.”
Mr Buttimer also said that legal action against TV3 was likely after a report broadcast on Tuesday night relating to the case. Mr Buttimer said he had already asked them for a retraction.
Meanwhile, O’Donoghue’s girlfriend Rebecca Dennehy was in Midleton yesterday, trying to get her life back to normal. She is presently working at a restaurant but she doesn’t intend to stay in the east Cork town. Despite having a tight bunch of girlfriends who have stood by her, public opinion is still bitterly divided over what really happened on the day Robert Holohan, 11, died. Rebecca plans to move to Britain next year to study psychology.
The events of the past year haven’t undermined their relationship and Rebecca is a regular visitor to the Midlands Prison. As he was led out of court to begin his manslaughter sentence, she covered her face and burst into tears. They remain a couple despite his incarceration.
It’s understood the 20-year-old started a business course at a Cork college earlier this year but dropped out, deciding that she was more suited to psychology.
So far, she has refused to speak to the media.
One of the trial’s most powerful moments was when she took the witness box for the prosecution and declared her love for the then accused.
She sat beside the O’Donoghue family in the public gallery and was often accompanied by her father.
During most of the prosecution evidence, O’Donoghue kept his head bowed but when Rebecca strode up to the stand, he couldn’t help but repeatedly glance upwards. The constant rumours surrounding the case are said to have “devastated” her but her loyalty to O’Donoghue has never really wavered.
“I love Wayne to bits. I still feel the same way about him today,” she told the court. O’Donoghue, she said, was always “there for me” anytime she needed him, day or night.
Mr Buttimer confirms the pair are still “together”.
“Yeah, so far as anybody that’s in prison can go out with somebody - they are still in a relationship at whatever level they can manage,” he said.
He added that he believed Rebecca had made an impressive witness.
“The judge was highly impressed, I have no doubt - he didn’t say this but I believe he was impressed by the candour of Rebecca’s evidence when she gave her evidence for the prosecution.
“The judge would have been impressed by her as an individual who confirmed to him that she was still involved with Wayne during the course of the trial.”
Throughout the day Mr Buttimer has conducted interviews. He’s candid about his aims: to contradict the negative impression given about his client as a result of Majella Holohan’s testimony that semen was found on her son’s body.
“Wayne is quite upset at some of the coverage. He is also satisfied that some effort is being made, outside of his own abilities to kind of correct the record.”
He stressed that his client, who received a four-year jail term for manslaughter on Tuesday, was not involved in that “reprehensible activity” and “still has a character”. Any suggestion of this other “carry on” was unacceptable.
O’Donoghue had lots of friends and they knew the trial was the truth, he said.
O’Donoghue is now concentrating on serving his time in prison.
But Mr Buttimer said: “There’s now this extra burden (of Majella’s allegations) so Wayne will have to get this behind him as well.”
Mr Buttimer said his client’s family also faced an extra burden following Ms Holohan’s allegations.
“The reaction of the family is that it has been difficult enough for them to deal with the issues surrounding the matters for which he is responsible (the manslaughter of Robert Holohan).
“But to face matters in respect of which he has had no chance to answer - because there was no case to answer - has been really difficult for them.
“Their reaction is that it has been very difficult for them to deal with this extra burden.
“In fairness to Majella, she would have known exactly what reaction (she) was going to generate.”
While neither the Irish Sun nor TV3 would comment, Ms Holohan was not impressed with Mr Buttimer’s round of media interviews.
Less than a few hundred yards from Mr Buttimer’s offices, Ms Holohan’s solicitor, Ernest Cantillon, was preparing a statement to put her views across.
Mr Cantillon said Majella was upset the veracity of her statement was being called into question. She insisted there was a basis for everything she said. He said Mr Buttimer was acting as if this had all come as a surprise, when in fact all the allegations were in the garda file on the case and would have been know to the defence team.
Mr Buttimer told the Irish Examiner the defence team had been due to call O’Donoghue, his father, a psychiatrist and character witnesses including Midleton CBS Secondary principal Denis Ring.
“Mr Ring had a statement all about Wayne. It was fantastic. He knows all parties and was prepared to tell the country how good Wayne is and the next thing is that this (Majella’s allegations) occurs.”
Mr Buttimer said as a result he had been busy all day answering calls on the O’Donoghue case - and had two libel lawyers waiting on the other line to speak to him.
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