'You destroyed an entire family': Family of woman killed by partner tell court of their enduring pain
Sharon Crean died after a frenzied stabbing at her apartment in Mountmellick. Picture provided by her family
The mother of a young woman who was killed by her ‘on/off’ partner said on Friday the 42 injuries on her daughter’s body all told of the pain and terror the 34-year-old must have felt in her last moments.
Sharon Crean’s mother, Catherine, said she was haunted by this and by not being able to protect her child from having this cruel and violent end to her life.
39-year-old Seán Egan, of Lios Na Slí, Rathmiles, Portarlington, Co Laois, was found not guilty of murdering 34-year-old Sharon Crean at College Avenue, Mountmellick, Co Laois, on December 14, 2022, but guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford heard legal submissions, background to the manslaughter and victim impact evidence on Friday and she will consider all of these before imposing sentence on May 21 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
Sharon Crean's mother, Catherine, said: “The day Sharon died, a part of me died with her. To the court, this may be another case. To me, this is my daughter. My child. My flesh and blood.
“What haunts me the most is knowing how Sharon died. Knowing the fear she must have felt. And I couldn't protect her. Knowing she suffered 42 injuries, including being stabbed 13 times.
"As her mother, those details destroy me. I replay them in my mind over and over, imagining my daughter terrified, in pain, fighting for her life, begging to survive. No mother should ever have to picture her child's final moments like that. Those thoughts will stay with me forever.
“Since Sharon was killed, our family has been completely shattered. The cruellest part of all is her child growing up without his mother.
To the man who took my daughter from this world: I want you to understand what you have done. You did not just kill Sharon. You destroyed an entire family.
“I need this court to remember that Sharon was not just another name in a file. She was loved beyond words. She was cherished. She mattered. She was my daughter. My heart. My soul. My world. And I will carry the pain of losing her for the rest of my life.”
Garda Andrea Byrne read victim impact statements that were prepared by other family members including Sharon’s sisters Tara and Elaine, her brothers, Nigel and Jason, and niece, Leah. A statement from her sister Kim was handed to the judge without being read.
Tara said the hardest part was watching her mother suffer, seeing her break over and over and not being able to fix it, no matter how much she wished to be able to do so.
Elaine said: “Sharon is gone but her legacy and her name will always be spoken loudest.”
Jason said: “The moment the sheet was pulled back in Portlaoise hospital to show us Sharon’s face I felt my while body go numb. Seeing the harm that animal had done to my little sister turned my stomach… It’s so hard to see anyone, especially your little sister, in such a bad state. I still wake up in the middle of the night from the nightmares of reliving that day and seeing her the way I did.”
Garret Baker prosecution senior counsel said: “This prosecution involves the allegation of murder of Sharon Crean in the late afternoon of December 14, 2022, at her home in College Avenue, Mountmellick. She was born in August 1987 and was 35 when she lost her life due to the acts of horrific violence perpetrated by Seán Egan.
“He was her on/off partner. She was stabbed multiple times by Seán Egan using a flick knife with a nine-centimeter blade and also struck with a Himalayan rock candle holder.”
Consultant psychiatrists called by both the prosecution and defence were in agreement that Seán Egan was suffering from a mental disorder at the time he killed Sharon Crean.
In their reports, he was variously described as being, "impervious to reason", "psychotic at time of interview", having "paranoid psychosis", and "persecution delusions… and needed to protect his child" was suffering a "fixed delusion belief system", "a psychotic disorder with potential diagnosis of schizophrenia" and "psychotic disorder interfering with his capacity for rational judgement".
Memos of Garda interviews with the accused included long narratives from the defendant which lacked coherence. Seán Egan said: “I know it was a serious thing… For what it is worth, I did love her… Taking the knife out as a deterrent, I was going to use it as a fear factor… I said, right, this is the time. I picked up the candlestick and cracked it over the head… I stabbed her two or three times in the side… I went in jest with the knife… She said, please, please… At no point I thought her life was took.
“Up until I struck her, I did not think I would do it. I can’t believe she is dead. I did not know I was penetrating her. I never stabbed anyone. If I can change the clocks, I would wind them back.”
Defence senior counsel Padraig Dwyer said of Seán Egan: “He killed her in a psychotic rage. I know a lot of people will say he is still alive and she is not. No one is here to exonerate him. We are not saying, not guilty of murder or not guilty by reason of insanity. We are saying he had a disorder that is less than insanity… He would be criminalised for manslaughter.”
Mr Dwyer said Seán Egan in his own words said: “I took the knife. I knew I needed to end this’.
The defence senior counsel said: “All of the evidence — from the moment this killing occurred and prior to it having occurred — all the evidence points to this man suffering a psychotic delusion that his child was in danger… from Ms Crean.
"And you know that nothing could be further from the truth… The child was deeply loved by the two of them… But it is a brutally tragic case. You would have to be mentally ill to think Ms Crean was anything but a loving mother.
“He was responsible for the act but his responsibility was diminished.”
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