Killer ‘showed total lack of remorse’
Mr Justice Paul Carney jailed Hayes of Clancool Terrace, Bandon, Co Cork, for life for murdering Ann Corcoran in January last year with a 10-year concurrent sentence for falsely imprisoning, five 10-year concurrent sentences for the withdrawals of cash using her bank card and another 10-year concurrent sentence for attempting to get money out of a second bank.
Mr Justice Carney said: “Apart from the gratuitous violence involved, one of the most chilling features of this case was the accused’s total lack of genuine remorse over anything other than the suffering caused to Ann Corcoran’s dogs… As recently as last week he said under cross-examination he was as much a victim as the unfortunate woman he bludgeoned to death.”
The deceased’s nephew Kevin Kelly said in a victim impact statement on behalf of the family: “She was very beautiful, she walked briskly and with purpose. Ann was a devoted daughter and wife. Anne her mother’s sole carer up until her death in 2000 and likewise did the same for her husband Jerry up until his death in 2008.”
He said the couple would have loved to have children but never did. Her dogs, Roy, Trudy and Clive were described as her passion, along with her love of music. “A closed coffin is no way to say goodbye to our loved one,” Mr Kelly said.
Detective Inspector Joseph Moore said Hayes worked with Ms Corcoran’s late husband and knew her only to see. He decided on January 18, 2009, to rob her and went to her home the following day, bringing rope with him for the purpose of tying her up.
“He waited for her and surprised her at the back door [in the dark] and pushed her into the back of the house, pushed her into a little bathroom and tied her up and commenced interrogating her about where cash was kept… She threw a vase at him and refused to answer questions,” Det Insp Moore said. Hayes tied her up again and bundled her into the boot of her own car driving it over many back roads to his house over a period of two hours. He brought her to a bedroom where he tied her entire body in electrical cable and gagged her. He got what he wanted –– the location of the bank cards and PIN numbers.
Fearing she might escape he tried to knock her unconscious with a plank but needed something substantially heavier to knock her out. She was still breathing after he returned back home with her bank cards. He went to bed. It is believed that Ms Corcoran died during the night as a result of the trauma to her head and being gagged.
Over the next five days he withdrew the maximum of €600 from an ATM. On January 24 he brought her body to a remote woods near Ballinspittle where he burnt her remains and buried it. Hayes then went on holidays to Austria. He left enough food for her dogs. The alarm was raised by relatives, and local gardaí identified Hayes on CCTV.
He was later arrested and after many denials made some admissions. Hayes denied intending to kill her and pleaded not guilty to murder but was convicted by a jury last week.
Nine years ago, Hayes got a suspended 18-month sentence for a crime where he held a knife to a woman’s throat to get cash from her after he tricked his way into her home. She was in her late 50s. In 1982 he got the Probation Act for stealing €3,000 cash and jewellery from a woman in her 80s.
