Girl kept escaping from care prior to her death

An inquest has heard of the desperate attempts to keep a teenage girl in the protective care of the HSE shortly before she was killed.

Detective Superintendent John O’Reilly said Melissa Mahon, 14, kept escaping from carers in the hours before she was last seen on Sept 14, 2006.

Ronnie Dunbar, also known as Ronnie McManus, is serving life for the manslaughter of the girl at his home in Rathbraughan Park, Sligo, following conviction in 2009.

But her inquest was delayed until yesterday.

Det Supt O’Reilly told coroner Desmond Moran that Melissa Mahon was put into the emergency care of the HSE at Ballytivnan, Sligo, on Aug 28, 2006.

She went absent but was discovered by gardaí and then sent to a foster home in Kinlough, Co Leitrim.

Shortly after arriving she ran away to a neighbouring house. On the night of Sept 13-14, she was taken to Manorhamilton Garda station where a care worker spent the night with her.

A few hours later, accompanied by the care worker, Melissa went into a public bathroom in Sligo to wash and change her clothes.

She vanished again, but just after midday she was spotted by two care workers. She was running towards Rathbraughan Park and they lost sight of her. That was the last time she was seen alive in public.

Det Supt O’Reilly said a murder investigation began following information made available when gardaí attended a house in Rathbraughan Park in Jan 2008. The investigation discovered Dunbar/McManus was directly responsible for Melissa Mahon’s death.

“He placed her body in a sleeping bag and tied it with a neck-tie.”

The inquest was told how the body was dumped into a river near Dromahair and skeletal remains were later found by Garda divers about 850m away in Lough Gill. The remains were identified through dental and DNA processes as Melissa Mahon.

Dr Moran said that “Melissa had a great future and met her death in a horrendous fashion. That justice was done may be some consolation but it doesn’t bring back Melissa”.

A verdict of unlawful killing was returned.

Melissa’s two sisters and a male friend were at the inquest but refused to make any comment afterwards.

Dr Moran paid tribute to the HSE in its attempted care of Melissa Mahon. He said people were quick to point out failures in the system but in this instance the HSE, and especially Melissa’s care workers, deserved to be complimented.