Life sentence for teen guilty of Kilkenny murder

An 18-year-old Kilkenny youth has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 36-year-old woman two years ago.

The jury of six men and six women delivered its unanimous verdict to the Central Criminal Court late yesterday evening, after deliberating for two and a half hours.

Mark Costigan of Aylesbury, Kilkenny had denied killing mother-of-two Christine Quinn at her home on nearby Greenfields Road on December 5, 2002.

Mrs Quinn’s son, Jason, an Army private, found his mother dead in her smoke-filled kitchen, on his return from his barracks at 4.45pm that afternoon.

She had been stabbed 35 times, her fire-damaged body had 69 knife injuries and a blade had been left in her scalp.

During the three-week trial, the court heard that on that Thursday afternoon, between 1.50pm and 4.45pm, an intruder came into the victim’s home and stabbed her to death.

There was evidence of a struggle in the kitchen and hall, and three separate fires had been lit in the house before the assailant left.

The doors had been shut, and the lack of oxygen meant the house did not burn down. A detective garda working on the case, Shane Henry, told the court that the house was "the scene of a sustained and violent assault and deliberate fires".

The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, concluded that the cause of death was multiple stab-wounds to the trunk of the body, especially to the lungs liver and heart, including the aorta.

The assailant had stabbed the victim down through the bridge of the nose, forcing the knife through the cartilage and out the nostril.

"She obviously had put up some fight," she said, pointing out that injuries to her hands were consistent with defensive and taunting injuries. She described one wound to the palm as suggesting that while trying to grab the attacker’s arm, Ms Quinn had instead grabbed the blade.

A forensic scientist with the Justice Department relayed forensic evidence to the jury, linking the accused to the crime scene.

Blood with a DNA profile matching that of Mark Costigan was found on the upstairs. The match was made with blood on a bedroom doorknob, a duvet cover, a soccer jersey and a radiator as well as on a banister.

Alexander Owens, SC, for the prosecution, said the only credible conclusion was that while killing Christine Quinn, the accused broke a knife, the blade of which was found in her skull, and injured himself.

Mr Owens submitted that Mr Costigan then went upstairs, getting blood on one banister, and opened a bedroom door, soiling that with blood.

Then he went into a front bedroom "to look out the window to see if the coast was clear", suggested Mr Owens.

Finally, said counsel, "Right handed Mark Costigan, coming down the stairs, dripped blood onto the right banister".

The victim’s younger son, who cannot be named because of his age, gave evidence to the court by video-link. He said he had known the accused all his life, and had been very friendly with him during the summer of 2001.

"He would have been there (in the Quinn home) most days of the week," he said. The friends fell out that September, when allegations were made that Mark Costigan may have been partly to blame for the victim’s mobile phone going missing.

Also living in the house with her two sons was Ms Quinn’s partner. Both she and Paul Byrne were separated from their spouses and in the process of getting divorces. The victim was also about to buy a new house.

Mr Byrne gave evidence that he spotted the accused nearby, on his way back from lunch with Ms Quinn at her house.

At about 5.25pm, Mark Costigan arrived at "Gamesworld", a 25-minute walk from the Quinn home.

CCTV footage and testimony from staff showed that his right hand was concealed, his sweatshirt was bloodstained and he tendered a bloody €50 note to buy a Playstation game.

A Playstation 2 was one the few things missing from the Quinn home after the murder. A Playstation 2 with a similar "peculiarity" was found in the accused’s mother’s home on the day of his arrest.

Evidence from Mark Costigan’s school was also used to prosecute him. Teachers testified that there was nothing wrong with his hands on the morning of the murder, but they were injured and heavily bandaged the following morning.

He had told Gardaí he sustained this injury on a jigsaw in woodwork class, but his woodwork teacher said they were not using tools that term, and were covering only theory.

Yesterday evening, as the verdict was read out, members of Mark Costigan’s family burst into tears.

The accused began to sob too, when Mr Justice Michael Peart handed down the mandatory life sentence. Before the teenager was led away in hand-cuffs, he was granted leave for appeal and free legal aid in the event of an appeal.

Afterwards, the victim’s sister-in-law, Bernie Quinn, said the family was delighted and could not begin to thank the judge and jury for their decision.

She also thanked Kilkenny gardaí for their hard work. "It’s been two long years. We just hope now the boys can make their lives again and get on with their lives," she added.

Christine Quinn’s son, Jason, said it was the proper decision, long overdue and "the end to a long story". The victim’s elderly mother, Mary Madden, said simply that "Justice was done".