Teen gets life for rape and murder of Michaela

A DUBLIN teenager has been jailed for life for murdering and raping 12-year-old Michaela Davis in west Dublin last year.

Jonathan Byrne, aged 19, of Lohunda Downs, Clonsilla, pleaded guilty to murdering and raping the schoolgirl twice on August 28, 2010, at St Mochta’s playing fields on Porterstown Road, Clonsilla. The child’s body was found later that day on a bank of the Royal Canal.

Detective Sergeant Dan O’Callaghan told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that August 27 last year was Michaela’s first day in secondary school.