Mum of 4 ‘ashamed’ of her role in killing

A mother of four who killed a grandfather at a party in Waterford last year told a judge she is “ashamed” of what she has done.

Joanna Kelly, aged 40, wrote a letter to Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, which was read on her behalf at a Central Criminal Court sentence hearing yesterday.

Kelly and Michelle Hynes, aged 41, both of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Joe O’Brien. A third person, Patrick Keating, is serving a life sentence for murdering the 60-year-old at an apartment on William St in the city on Apr 23, 2012.