Farmer gets life for law student’s murder

A farmer was yesterday sentenced to life in prison for murdering a male student who, the accused claimed, had “made a pass” at him.

The severely beaten body of Eoin Ryan, aged 21, was found two years ago, in a barrel, in a field after landowner Joe Heffernan called gardaí to report “killing the devil” there.

Heffernan, aged 33, of Cappagh Beg, Barefield, Ennis, Co Clare, had pleaded not guilty to murdering the law student at that address on Jun 7, 2011.

He told gardaí he had killed a man after he had come onto him, claiming the devil had been in the man’s eyes.

The Central Criminal Court heard Mr Ryan had sustained multiple injuries to his head and body and that his blood was found on a socket wrench at the scene.

State pathologist Marie Cassidy said he died of severe, extensive trauma to his head, with blunt force trauma to his neck and chest a contributory factor.

“The skull had been broken up into small pieces, some of them missing,” she said, adding that injuries to the left side of his head suggested they were received while the right side of his head was on the ground.

She said his breastbone was fractured, something that would have required “considerable force”. A crush injury to his heart and tares to his oesophagus and windpipe were also potentially fatal.

The prosecution said Heffernan’s motive was his abhorrence with himself that he might be homosexual or had engaged in a homosexual act that morning.

The trial before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy had heard Mr Ryan was gay and both men had left a pub together just hours before his death.

The defence asked for a manslaughter verdict, arguing that Heffernan’s adjustment disorder following his father’s death caused him to think he was killing the devil. There was evidence Heffernan believed he could bring his father back from the dead.

However, a forensic psychiatrist, who interviewed him three times over the past two years, said the accused knew what he was doing was wrong.

The jury spent just over six hours deliberating before returning a majority murder verdict of 11 to one.