Life sentence for homeless man in murder trial

A man has been jailed for life for stabbing a man to death in Thurles last year.

The woman he was living with has been found guilty of assaulting the man and helping to burn his clothes after he was killed.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court took just more than four and a half hours to reach their unanimous verdicts.

Kevin Keohane (aged 34), of no fixed abode, was found guilty of the murder of Renars Tuleiko (aged 32), a Latvian mechanic, at Parnell Park, Thurles, Co Tipperary on a date unknown between April 13 and 15, 2007.

Victoria Moverley (aged 32), also of no fixed abode, was found guilty of assisting in burning the deceased man’s clothes.

She was also found guilty of assault causing him serious harm.

During the trial, the court heard that Keohane and Moverley had two children together and that they had been apart for six months prior to the murder.

Two weeks before the murder, at the beginning of April last year, Keohane went to Thurles to meet Moverley and discuss their children. They began living in a tent in Parnell Park in the town.

On April 13, they hitched a lift to Nenagh, where they collected a social welfare cheque. Later that evening, they got the bus back to Thurles.

They went to the riverbank and began drinking and met Mr Tuleiko.

Mr Keohane told the court that he had met Mr Tuleiko three or four time before that evening and that they had got on well.

Keohane and Moverley invited Mr Tuleiko back to the tent they were living in.

A fire was lit. They were drinking and Mr Tuleiko asked if he could stay for the night.

Keohane and Moverley said that he could.

The court heard that a row broke out between Keohane and Mr Tuleiko later that night.

Mr Tuleiko was stabbed eighteen times in the face and neck. He also received 20 slash wounds to the face and neck, as well as two stab wounds to the left thigh, one to the left buttock and one to the left groin.

State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told the court that Mr Tuleiko died of a stab wound to the neck, which punctured both jugular veins.

She also told the court that the little finger of Mr Tuleiko’s right hand was amputated after he died and that there had been an attempt to sever the middle finger of the left hand.

Keohane later told gardaí during interviews that he could not explain why he amputated Mr Tuleiko’s finger.

“I just went too far,” he said.

He told the court: “I had the knife on his finger... After the whole thing it was like I wasn’t myself. I don’t know. I can’t give an explanation.”

Keohane told gardaí that he stabbed Mr Tuleiko in the neck “to finish him off”.

Moverley told gardaí that she stabbed Mr Tuleiko in the buttock while he was fighting with Keohane.

The court also heard that, when asked by gardaí who was responsible for the death of Mr Tuleiko, Moverley said: “All of us were. Getting into that state. We were all supposed to be mates.”

Mr Tuleiko’s body was then dragged to a corner of the field and covered partially with grass.

Keohane and Moverley burned his clothes on the campfire, before leaving and taking the train to Dublin and then the ferry to Wales.

Keohane told gardaí that he stabbed Mr Tuleiko because he was trying to protect Moverley.

He said that he did “not intend” to kill Mr Tuleiko.

“I was just trying to protect us,” he said.

During the trial, he told the court that he feels “very sorry” about Mr Tuleiko’s death.

“If I could change things I would. I actually got on well with Renars the three or four times I met him before this. I’m very sorry for his family. I believe he has got children, too. I’m very sorry to his children. If I could change any of this I would.”

Mr Justice Barry White gave Keohane the mandatory life sentence.

He remanded Moverley in custody until December 3 when a date is expected to be set for her sentencing.

//ENDS//