Jury finds woman guilty of murdering elderly man in 'protracted torturing and killing'

A 37-year-old woman has been found guilty of murdering a man she said was "like a Dad to her" at a senior citizens’ complex in Dublin on January 6, last year.

Sabrina Cummins of Ringsend Park, Dublin 4, claimed her younger brother tortured Thomas Horan before beating and strangling him to death.

Ms Cummins held back tears when the jurors sealed her fate just after 3pm before storming out of the courtroom and back towards the holding cells as Mr Justice Tony Hunt addressed them for a final time.

Thomas Horan suffered a “horrific death”, he said.

Sabrina Cummins (aged 37) with an address at Ringsend Park, Dublin 4, pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas Horan (aged 63) at Cambridge Court, Ringsend on January 6 last year.

He was repeatedly hit in the head and 14 of his ribs were broken. He died from asphyxia due to neck and chest injuries, and the court heard there was an attempt to poison him with toilet cleaner, white spirits and washing up liquid.

Sabrina and her brother Kenneth both blamed the other for the 63-year-old’s death, but Kenneth changed his plea to guilty last week.

His older sister also became a convicted murderer after five hours and 12 minutes of deliberations.

She could be heard crying in the background as Mr Justice Hunt told the jury he “thoroughly agreed with their verdict”.

The siblings will be handed life sentences when they are brought back to court on Friday.