Father-of-two jailed for life for killing friend who ‘wouldn’t shut up’
John Hannigan, 46, of River House, New Quay, Clonmel had pleaded not guilty to murdering Anthony Fallon, also a father of two, in Clonmel on January 18, 2012.
He had also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to the 46-year-old on the same date at Mr Fallon’s flat on Abbey Street in the town.
However, a jury found him guilty of both counts yesterday following a trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The eight-day trial heard that Hannigan called an ambulance to River House shortly before 7 o’clock that morning, telling the emergency services that Mr Fallon had rung his doorbell and then collapsed.
A postmortem examination found 31 separate fractures to Mr Fallon’s ribs, along with fractures to his collar and breast bones.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and trunk, with the trunk injuries the major cause.
However, Hannigan entered the witness box on Wednesday and said that he was ‘just panicking’ when he told gardaí he had attacked the deceased on a walk through the town.
Mr Fallon’s widow, Elma Fallon, in her emotional victim impact statement on behalf of his family said: “Thank God, justice has been served.”
She described her husband’s injuries as outrageous and shocking, and said that the stress of having to identify him in “his horrific state” would leave her and other family members with emotional and psychological scars.
“These will be etched in our minds, eternally,” she added through tears.
She said they hoped Hannigan would serve his prison time with knowledge and guilt of the loss, heartache, distress and grief they had caused. She said the family could not forgive.
Both family members of the deceased and the accused sobbed as Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence on Hannigan.
He remanded him in custody until May 12 when he will be sentenced for the assault.
