Killer evidence: how Ireland's forensic scientists play a key role in bring murderers to justice
Ashling Murphy was murdered by Jozef Puska in January 2002.
Securing the oldest murder prosecution in Irish history, identifying a man on a crime spree across Europe, and bringing Ashling Murphy’s killer to justice — they were all in a year’s work for the State’s forensic scientists.
The 2023 annual report of Forensic Science Ireland reveals the depth and range of criminal prosecutions and missing persons’ cases the agency worked on during the year.
Nora Sheehan was last seen alive on June 6, 1981, after leaving the South Infirmary Hospital Cork.
Six days later, her body, naked and bruised, was found by forestry workers in undergrowth at The Viewing Point, Shippool Woods, Co Cork. Ms Sheehan was 54 years old.
Noel Long, a former British army soldier, with an address at Maulbawn, Passage West, Co Cork, was identified at the time as a suspect. He had been seen in the area at the time of Ms Sheehan’s disappearance.
His car was technically examined and paint samples, fibres and a wooden toolbox were removed. Forensic reports were produced but a prosecution was never pursued.
In 2022, a cold case review and technological advances involved a fresh examination of fibre and paint samples taken from Ms Sheehan’s clothing. They matched fibres and paint from Long’s car.
“These examinations confirmed the findings of the original reports and assisted in providing a weight to the significance of the findings, given what was alleged,” the report said.
“Overall, the trace evidence findings offered very strong support for the view that Nora Sheehan was in Noel Long’s motorcar rather than she was not. A partial DNA profile was obtained from semen found on Nora Sheehan’s body that matched that found on Noel Longs clothing taken in 2021.”
The report added: “In 2023, Noel Long was convicted by a unanimous jury decision and as it stands is the oldest murder prosecution in Irish history.”
In 2003 a burglary was committed in Co Wexford. The criminal remained unknown on the National DNA Database System, which was set up in 2015.
In October 2019, Ireland began sharing DNA data with other EU states under the Prüm Treaty. This allows the exchange of judicial and police information and by providing mutual assistance, including automated searches on various databases, including DNA systems.
If there is a match, personal data and case information can be exchanged.
The report said after sharing the 2003 sample, it matched to a person on the German DNA database.
There followed matches to a person on the Austrian database. Then came matches to crime stains (samples from crime scenes) on the Dutch and French databases.
“This is an example of the effective power of database sharing across Europe, which can track international movement of repeat offenders,” the report said.
Yousef Palani murdered Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo in April 2022. He also seriously assaulted Anthony Burke, by stabbing him in his left eye with a kitchen knife.
In his murder trial, the court heard Palani’s motivation was the result of his "hostility and prejudice" towards homosexual men.
The court heard while Palani told gardaí his religion forbids homosexuality, investigators were satisfied he was not radicalised.
Palani told gardaí in interviews that Muslims could not be homosexual and vehemently denied being gay, despite using gay dating apps.
The report said the FSI provided key evidence, including blood on footwear recovered from Palani’s home, which gave a DNA profile matching that of Mr Moffitt.
Blood found on a tracksuit bottoms matched the profile of Mr Snee.
The report said: “Wearer DNA recovered from the tracksuit bottoms matched the DNA profile of Yousef Palani. A blue blanket, recovered from a scene, was stained with semen matching Yousef Palani’s DNA.”
A large number of FSI staff played a key part during the investigation, and subsequent prosecution, into the murder of Ashling Murphy in January 2022.
The 23-year-old was jogging along on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly, when she was stabbed 11 times in the neck.
“Their contribution included urgent and out-of-hours work to perform forensic DNA and fingerprint analyses on a large number of exhibits,” the report said.
“These analyses provided significant findings including a male specific DNA profile (Y-DNA profile) match between Jozef Puska and samples from Ashling Murphy’s fingernails.
“In addition, DNA and fingerprint matches were obtained between Jozef Puska and a bicycle left at the scene.”
It said two current FSI scientists, a seconded Garda member and a retired FSI scientist presented significant forensic findings at the murder trial, resulting in Puska, a Slovak national, being convicted of murder.
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