LIFE FOR ‘KILLER AT LARGE’

MURDER victim Ann Corcoran fell foul of a “killer at large” when Oliver Hayes abducted and killed her, the Cork woman’s devastated elderly brother has said.

Timmy O’Mahony was speaking outside Cork’s Central Criminal Court after Hayes, a 49-year-old painter from Bandon, Co Cork, was sentenced to life imprisonment for Ms Corcoran’s murder.

The brutal killer was also given a 10-year prison sentence, to run concurrently, for robbing €3,000 from the widow’s bank account.

Mr O’Mahony went on to say the case’s conclusion had brought little consolation to the family considering Hayes’s previous convictions which included a suspended jail term in 2001, after he held a knife to the throat of a woman in her 50s during a burglary in 1999.

“I suppose he was like a killer at large.This pain is on us now and will be for the rest of our lives. When a person is dead, they can never be replaced. Nobody can bring her back again,” Mr O’Mahony said.

Delivering a victim impact statement to the court earlier, Ms Corcoran’s 33-year-old nephew, Kevin Kelly, spoke of his aunt’s love of music and dances and the love she showed her dogs.

Mr Justice Paul Carney, who presided over the 11- day trial that ended with Hayes’s conviction in Dublin last Thursday, went on to say the only sign of remorse Hayes had shown was for the suffering of his victim’s dogs.

Another relative, Teresa Corcoran, told reporters that while the family was glad the case was finished, they would never forget the horrific events of January and February 2009.

“I can’t believe it that he could have done that to her. She was a lovely person and there was no need to do that to her. She got an awful death but I hope to God, wherever she is, she’s happy,” she said.

Hayes had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Corcoran in January 2009, claiming he had not intended to kill her when he knocked her unconscious and left her in an upstairs bedroom of his home.

The court also heard, however, how Hayes had tried to burn Ms Corcoran’s body, had dumped her body near an isolated west Cork quarry, had stolen her bank card and had made five withdrawals from cash machines to help meet his mortgage and credit union debts.