Man jailed for life after ex-girlfriend's murder

A Laois man has been jailed for life for murdering his ex-girlfriend in Carlow almost two years ago.

Gordon Molloy (aged 24) stabbed Ciara Ni Chathmhaoil (Campbell), who was 22, because she had met another man, the court heard during the trial.

The victim’s body was found lying naked in the bath of her home. Molloy told gardaí that he had "lost it".

It took the jury at the Central Criminal Court four hours and fifty minutes to reach its unanimous verdict, finding Molloy, of Ballinakill, Ballickmoyler, Co Laois guilty of murdering Ms Ni Chathmhaoil at her home in Ardmore Gardens, Carlow, Co. Carlow on November 12, 2007.

It was the prosecution’s case that Ms Ni Chathmhaoil’s death was the "culmination of drink and jealousy".

The defence argued during the trial that Molloy was suffering from a borderline personality disorder, which would have substantially diminished his responsibility for the killing.

Molloy and Ms Ni Chathmhaoil had met two years prior to her death.

When they broke up, five weeks prior to her death, Molloy said that he would kill her if he found out she was seeing anyone else, the court heard.

The court also heard that Molloy had been drinking heavily the day before the murder and had found out that evening that Ms Ni Chathmhaoil had met another man.

Speaking outside the Four Courts after the verdict, Micheal Glynn, father of the deceased, said: “It has been a nightmare journey. And we are relieved some of that journey is over.”

He said that the he and his wife “could not have coped without the support of friends or family.

“This evil monster has shown no remorse to our family. Society is very fortunate that he has been removed from its midst.”

Patricia Campbell said that her daughter had “just started college” because she was “trying to make life better for herself and her son”, who was four years old at the time of the murder.

She said: “What didn’t come out during the trial was that [Ciara’s son] witnessed the murder.”

Ms Campbell said that her grandson told her: “Gordie [Molloy] did this to my mummy.”

“Ciara’s last words to [her son] were ‘Run’ as she was being murdered,” she said. “Her last thoughts were of [her son].”

During the trial, the court heard that Molloy went to Ms Ni Chathmhaoil’s house after a period of drinking in Carlow.

Ms Ni Chathmhaoil returned home at approximately 8am, accompanied by her four-year-old son.

Molloy told gardaí: “I asked her: ‘Do you not want to be with me anymore?’ She said: ‘I don’t know’.”

He told the gardaí that Ms Ni Chathmhaoil asked him to leave and started “pushing” him out the door.

“Then I picked up the knife and stabbed her. And then she screamed. I didn’t know what to do. I stabbed her again lots of times.”

The court heard that Molloy then stabbed himself in the neck and cut his throat.

Then he removed Ms Ni Chathmhaoil’s clothes and attempted to have sex with her body.

“I was going to have sex with her one last time before I died. I was disgusted with myself. I was thinking: ‘What is wrong with me? Why are you thinking of doing something like that?’

“It was horrible. She was freezing. I’d never felt her so cold.”

Molloy then dragged Ms Ni Chathmhaoil’s body upstairs and put her in the bath.

Following this, he cut his wrists with a razorblade and crawled out of the bathroom.

When he awoke, he called an ambulance.

Molloy was found by the ambulance crew and gardaí standing on the stairs, undressed from the waist up and covered in blood.

He told gardaí that he “was fighting Ciara Campbell this morning. She was with some lad the other night. I stabbed her in the sitting-room.

“I was drinking vodka all night. I lost it and I stabbed her in the side. She started screaming. I totally lost it.”

The jury also saw photos that had been taken at the scene of the murder, one of which showed the words “I loved her but she cheated” written in blood on the living-room door.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton sentenced Molloy to life in prison.