Civil servant convicted of husband's manslaughter

A Dublin civil servant was today convicted at the Central Criminal Court of the manslaughter of her husband.

After just over five hours of deliberation, the jury reached a majority verdict - 10 to two - finding Dolores O'Neill, aged 50, not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter, in accordance with her plea.

Ms O'Neill had denied murdering her 46-year-old husband, Declan O'Neill, on or about July 22, 2002, at the family home in Coolamber Park, Knocklyon in Dublin.

Members of the deceased's family wept aloud as the verdict was read out, and Mr Justice Paul Carney took the unusual step of inviting Mr O'Neill's brother, Brian, to tell the court the effect the death had on them.

Brian O'Neill said, "We have lost a member of our family, who we deeply loved, and whose character this court is not aware of. What we heard in court was not our brother."

As his siblings wept, he continued to tell the court how some of them had lost their jobs because they could not cope.

Mr O'Neill also drew from the evidence of the former State Pathologist. During the trial, Dr John Harbison declared that the deceased had been a healthy man. This, Mr O'Neill said, was evidence his brother was not a heavy drinker.

The deceased's brother said his family would go through life missing all contact with him. "We do believe that Declan is with our mother, who went to her grave not knowing what went on between Declan and his family that prevented him visiting her.

"The character of Declan – no one in this court knows. He never once took the name of Jesus in vain. He never once said 'F-off'. He loved his music, playing guitars. He even wrote songs," he recalled.

Mr O'Neill himself broke down as he spoke about the problems between Dolores and Declan O'Neill. "We urged Declan to leave the family home. And he replied, 'And what about Conor?'"

Mr O'Neill said that at the time of his death, his brother's employer and family members had been interviewed for hours at a time, and none of this had been mentioned in court.

Addressing the jury of six men and six women, Mr O'Neill said he was disappointed that they had not heard both sides of the story.

"His efforts to speak from the grave didn't see the light of day…You basically have not heard about my brother. You have made up your mind from what you heard in court. I will not fault you for your decision. The fault lies with the justice system in this country," he said.

During the six-day trial, Dr John Harbison testified Declan O'Neill died as a result of multiple blows to the head, having detected at least 24 marks from a blunt instrument to that area.

The pathologist said there were fractures to the skull and the root of the eye-sockets, bleeding in the skull, in the innermost membrane of the brain, between the brain and the skull and bruising of the brain.

These injuries, thought to be from a hammer, resulted in death. The jury had already been shown a hammer, which was found at the scene.

However, Mr O'Neill had also received more than 20 knife wounds to the neck, and the jury saw a bloodstained hammer, found after the killing on the bed beside the deceased.

In her evidence, Ms O'Neill spoke of a painful marriage, with the first outburst of violence from the deceased two weeks before their wedding in 1978. She recounted events of her late husband's drinking, frequently leaving the family short of cash for household expenses.

The accused told the court about verbal as well as physical abuse, recalling one occasion when he told her: "I'm mixing with people now, who can make people disappear."

When asked why she had never secured a barring order, she said she knew it sounded stupid in hindsight, but the stigma attached had prevented her.

"I wanted his best interests, wanted to help him…I still loved him. Declan knew I still had feelings for him and he toyed with them." she added.

Ms O'Neill said her husband had various affairs and left home throughout their marriage, but he used to text and phone her saying she was the love of his life and he wanted to come home. He had not returned home long when he died.

The bitter row, which led to his death, followed a violent weekend away in Cork. The accused admitted that, after breaking free from her husband's stranglehold, she pushed him to the bed and spotted a hammer on the floor.

She remembered hitting him with the hammer, but said she had no recollection of using a knife. "I just couldn't take anymore. I knew he was going to go for me." she told the court.

After she killed her husband, Dolores O'Neill drove herself and her two sons to her sister's house in Ashford, Co Wicklow.

Explaining why she made that decision instead of summoning help for her husband, she said: "I wish I had. I wish I had…I didn't know what was happening. I was in such a state. I just wanted my kids to be safe…my mind was in hell."

After Brian O'Neill's tearful statement yesterday, Mr Justice Carney addressed the defence counsel's request for bail between now and sentencing so that Ms O'Neill could sort her affairs.

He turned down the request on two grounds, first that she would be hounded by the press, and second that it would send out the wrong signal considering, "she faces a substantial term in prison".

Dolores O'Neill was remanded in custody for sentence on Monday, November 1. Before being led away, she embraced her two sons who sat behind her in court throughout the trial.