Daughter saw accused having sex with murder victim

The 18-year-old daughter of the Sligo man accused of murdering 14-year-old Melissa Mahon has told a jury that she saw her father having sex with the girl.

She said “I seen them in Dad’s bedroom having sex”. She said the door had been left open. Asked if she said anything she replied: “What can you say? I was disgusted.”

Samantha Conroy was cross-examined by defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC via video link on day nine of the Central Criminal Court trial.

She earlier said that she had witnessed her father on a bed with Melissa with his arm around her neck before he tied her into a sleeping bag and dumped her body into a river.

She said she did not tell anyone what had happened for a year and a half because she was petrified and believed she would be jailed as an accessory to murder. She said she and her younger sister had been brainwashed by the accused. “You don’t understand, you don’t know my father”, she said.

Ronald McManus (aged 44), also known as Ronnie Dunbar, of Rathbraughan Park, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the schoolgirl in September 2006 and to threatening to kill Samantha.

Ms Conroy agreed with Mr Grehan that on the evening in January 2008 when her accusations came to light, she had been shouting, “I’m going to jail”. She said that her father had “drummed into our heads that we were accessories and would go to juvenile prison. We were all brainwashed. I got out in time”.

Ms Conroy agreed with Mr Grehan that, when she said she walked into her father’s bedroom on the day Melissa died and saw him on a double bed with her, she did not see him do any violence to the girl and had thought her was giving her a hug. She agreed that she did not know what had happened prior to her walking into the room.

She also accepted that her younger sister had given gardaí several different accounts of what had happened to Melissa. Ms Conroy said her younger sister had been told by the accused to blame Samantha.

Asked by Mr Grehan if she had read over her own statements before giving evidence Ms Conroy responded: “No, it is very stressful to read over what happened. Do you not think I have been through enough?”

Asked if Melissa was considered to be part of her family, Ms Conroy said: “she was actually Dad’s girlfriend” and “I was actually in the house when they were doing it. I saw them in Dad’s bedroom having sex.” She said that Melissa had already told her that she was having a relationship with the accused and her father had admitted it to her. Asked what she had said when she saw them having sex, she replied, “what can you say? I was disgusted”.

She agreed that she had not said in her statements that she had seen them having sex and said: “I put my hands up, I made a mistake”. She said she had been upset and confused when making statements, “I was only a child”.

Mr Grehan suggested that her claims about witnessing sex or her father admitting to a sexual relationship “simply never happened” and “beggars belief”. She replied, “He’s the sort of man who would”.

Ms Conroy denied that she had fallen out with Melissa before her disappearance but agreed that she was upset after an incident where Melissa had run into woods away from her father. She said: “He is my Dad, I do love my Dad. I was p***** off that she was treating my Dad like a piece of crap basically”.

In relation to the evening on which the witness said Melissa was killed, Ms Conroy told Mr Grehan that no words were exchanged between her, her father and her younger sister. She said she was in shock and agreed that she didn’t know what might have gone on before she arrived. She agreed that she did not see marks on Melissa’s neck, or any other injury.

Ms Conroy said that she had heard that in one account of the incident her younger sister said that Samantha had been “coked of my head and hit Melissa with a frying pan and pushed her into water”. Ms Conroy said her sister was in love with their father had been told by him to give that account.

She disagreed with another version given by her sister in which Melissa was in their house with the accused and her sister and had become violent towards them which led to a confrontation in which Melissa was attacked by the accused, the younger sister and then Ms Conroy who walked in as Melissa lay on the floor.

She also denied an account of her hitting Melissa over the head with a piece of wood and threatening her younger sister with a knife. “It never happened”, she said.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six men and six women. It is expected to continue for a further two weeks.