Life for man who murdered mother-of-two with hammer

A Dublin man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of a 49 year-old mother of two.

John O’Neill (aged 57), from Mercer House flats, Mercer Street in Dublin had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of Rosemary Dowling (aged 49) at his flat between October 24 and 25, 2005.

The naked body of Ms Dowling, from Home Villas in Donnybrook, was found wrapped in bedclothes near his flat in the early hours of Tuesday October 25.

The defence claimed the deceased had bit Mr O’Neill’s penis during a sexual encounter and that he was so provoked by her actions that he temporarily lost control of his actions.

However, the jury of 10 men and two women rejected this and took three and a half hours to reach their murder verdict.

Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced O’Neill to the mandatory life sentence and backdated it to the October 27, 2005.

Mr O’Neill kept his head down and showed no sign of emotion as the verdict was read out.

During her victim impact statement, Ms Sheila Dowling, the younger sister of the deceased, broke down as she described the "horrible effect" her sister’s murder had on the entire family.

She said her killing has been "especially hard" for her two children - the oldest of whom is doing her Junior Cert.

She said her younger child, who is 11, speaks about her mother everyday.

During the trial, the court heard how the deceased ran a second-hand record store on Aungier St., near the home of Mr O’Neill.

The victim and Mr O’Neill were both chronic alcoholics. The deceased’s drinking had led her to receive a number of minor convictions for public order offences.

On the evening of Monday October 24, Mr O’Neill left the pub in which he had spent the day drinking and passed by the deceased, whom he knew only as Rose.

He told gardaí he knew her, "not even a year", and that they began talking.

A passer-by saw him help her shut the shop and walk arm-in-arm along the street in the direction of Mr O’Neill’s flat. He said the deceased was more drunk than Mr O’Neill.

They were also seen by Mr O’Neill’s neighbour who said they were "in good spirits".

Prosecution counsel, Mr Gerard Clarke SC, told the jury at the start of the trial that from this point on, the only evidence they had of what followed was from Mr O’Neill’s own account.

In interviews with gardaí, Mr O’Neill said they arrived back at his flat just after 7.30pm.

They continued drinking wine and then cans and he claimed that at about midnight, they started taking off their clothes on the couch as they began engaging in sexual activity.

He told gardaí that after they went into the bedroom, Ms Dowling began hitting and scratching him and then bit his penis.

He claimed he completely lost it and "saw red". He said he picked up a lump hammer from his toolbox beside the bed and followed her into the hall where he struck her the first blow across her head.

Ms Dowling then fell to the floor and he dragged her into the spare bedroom where he continued beating her across the head.

State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, said Ms Dowling had died following a "severe assault" caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

She had been struck at least 14 times with a heavy object with a small surface area and most of the blows appeared to have been struck while the victim was concussed, unconscious or incapacitated.

She said the attack had been sustained and "amounted to overkill".

She also found part of a blade used to cut the throat of the deceased lodged inside her neck.

Mr O’Neill said he couldn’t remember cutting the deceased across the throat with the blade and that he just went "blank".

Prof. Cassidy also noted a small injury consisting of bruising at the entry point to the vaginal wall.

She said it was impossible to know how long it would have taken the victim to die.

After the killing, he said he couldn’t believe what he’d done and began wrapping her body up in several layers of bedclothes.

He showered, and then dragged a blood spattered armchair down a nearby lane, before trying to set fire to it, along with the lump hammer and some clothes.

After that, he dragged the deceased’s body outside and left it where he knew "someone would see it".

Sometime later, Mr Fergus Shiels, who had been walking in the area with a friend, came across the body and a decision was made to call gardaí.

Ms Dowling’s body remained unidentified for three days.

On the evening of Wednesday October 26, Det. Gda Laura Mangan called to Mr O’Neill’s flat during routine garda house-to-house inquiries.

She noticed one armchair seemed to be missing and that the bedclothes found on the body seemed to be similar to those found on the body.

She also noticed there was no bed sheet on the bed and a warrant to search his flat was sought.

During the garda search which followed on the Thursday, Mr O’Neill left his flat.

On the afternoon of the Friday, Mr O’Neill arrived voluntarily at Harcourt Tce., Garda Station.

Initially, he just asked why gardai were ‘turning over his flat’ and that he "knew the girl that was killed".

Det. Supt PJ Browne told the court that he then just "bowed his head and said: ‘I killed that girl’."

Mr O’Neill was arrested a short time later and gardaí were able to verify the deceased’s identity by checking dental records.