Young mother convicted of manslaughter

A young woman who stabbed a teenage mother-of-two to death, with a knife she had asked her child minder to bring to the scene, has been convicted by a jury of manslaughter.

21-year-old Kelly Noble from Seaview in Laytown had denied the murder of Emma McLoughlin outside Pat’s supermarket in Laytown Co Meath on June 2nd last year, but was convicted by a unanimous verdict of her manslaughter after the jury deliberated for just over four and a half hours over two days at the Central Criminal Court.

Noble held her head in her hands but showed little reaction as the jury’s verdict was read out.

She was remanded in custody until May 14 when she will be sentenced by Mr Justice Barry White.

Her mother Jacqui Noble is also behind bars where she is serving a life sentence for the murder of Kelly Noble’s father, her former partner.

Derek Benson (aged 33), was hacked to death with a sword at his flat at Sandy Hill Avenue, Ballymun in May 2000 by Jacqui Noble’s co-accused Paul Hopkins of Sillogue Road in north Dublin.

Following the incident Kelly Noble was taken into care and had moved to the Seaview Estate in Laytown after the birth of her first daughter.

During a series of statements to gardaí following the fatal stabbing last year, Noble told them she had gone to the supermarket with her young son in a buggy to get groceries for her two children, when she was approached by Emma McLoughlin.

She told detectives how Ms McLoughlin “busted” her nose in the supermarket. She then made a phone call to her friend and child minder Niamh Cullen and asked her to bring a knife down to the scene.

Shop worker Deborah Cantwell (aged 19), who was serving at the counter that evening said she overheard Noble asking Ms Cullen for a blade.

As she approached the counter she said Noble told her: “I’m going to slice her up.”

Niamh Cullen was then seen arriving at the supermarket on CCTV.

She said in evidence that she took the kitchen knife from a wooden block at Noble’s house around the corner, and carried it in a child’s school bag to the scene, along with Ms Noble’s daughter.

She indicated the bag to Ms Noble who put it on the back of her young son’s buggy.

Noble initially claimed in her statements that it was Ms McLoughlin who had bought the knife to the scene, but later admitted phoning Niamh Cullen to bring the weapon down.

She said she had taken the knife from the school bag and put it up her sleeve. Outside she had it behind her back when “Emma went for me".

She said she heard Emma’s younger sister Shona telling the deceased that she had a knife and to get away, but “she just went for me.”

“I said ‘Keep away from me’, but she just lunged at me and the knife stuck in her.”

She said she didn’t intend to kill Ms McLoughlin and had just wanted her to run away. She said she had been afraid she would get her head kicked in and told gardaí: “It was self defence big time.”

Ms McLoughlin collapsed on her stomach after the blade entered her chest tracking 19.5 cms into her chest and lungs.

Emma’s younger sister Shona said she saw Noble pull the blade from her sister.

She told the jury: “I seen Emma get stabbed. I seen Kelly stabbing Emma like that.”

She brought her right had up and down to show the jury. She said she had not seen the knife at first but added: “When she took it out it was full of blood and I knew she was after stabbing Emma.”

Shona, who is now 18, denied her sister was frequently violent, but agreed that she had made a statement to gardaí in June 2005 describing how her sister had broken her jaw and knocked her unconscious in a row over a mobile phone.

In the statement she said she feared at one stage that her sister, who had been kicking her in the face, would kill her.

When she regained consciousness she was in hospital and was told her brain was swollen and her jaw broken.

She had since withdrawn this statement.

Evidence was heard during the trial that Ms McLoughlin was known to gardaí and that an allegation had been made that she had previously tried to attack the accused with a hammer.

Her school principal said she had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)and gave evidence that he had written to the Board of Managers at Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh in Laytown stating that the safety of pupils and teachers could not be guaranteed while she was in attendance.

However he agreed with the judge that Ms McLoughlin’s ADHD was not her fault. The condition meant she could erupt like a volcano before calming down again.

During the trial the family said they felt like it was their daughter on trial and not Kelly Noble, and complained the defence had created a smokescreen with their evidence.

Emma McLoughlin’s father Thomas told the defence he would not describe his late daughter as troubled and said: “Nothing can justify the taking of any human life.”

Following the jury’s verdict the family said they had no further comment to make.

Noble was also convicted of producing a knife during the course of a fight or dispute in a manner likely to intimidate or inflict serious injury and will also be sentenced on May 14 for that crime.

Mr Jim McCullough BL, (with Mr Michael O’Higgins SC) defending asked for the sentencing to be put back after he said there were a number of matters to be addressed concerning Ms Noble.

The judge agreed to direct the preparation of probation and welfare reports.

He thanked the jury for their attention to this case and exempted them from further service for a period of ten years.

Mr Justice White said he was also prepared to hear evidence from the family at the May sentence date.