Mitchelstown killings: North Cork brothers laid to rest

Meanwhile, GSOC is conducting a separate investigation into garda contacts with Johnny Hennessy on the Thursday evening before the alarm was raised

A pair of coffins are taken from the church after requiem mass for brothers Paddy and Willie Hennessy who died in tragic circumstances last week. Photo: Larry Cummins

The funerals have taken place of the two brothers who were killed in a double murder and suicide tragedy in Cork last week.

Paddy and Willie Hennessy were buried today following a joint Requiem Mass at the church of Our Lady Conceived Without Sin in Mitchelstown.

It was celebrated in line with public health guidelines just a day after the funeral Mass of their younger brother, Johnny.

Paddy, 60, and Willie, 66, were found with fatal head injuries on the family farm in Curraghgorm in the early hours of last Friday morning. 

Johnny, 59, was found dead in the river Funshion a few kilometres away at Killacluig around lunchtime that day.

A garda investigation into the three deaths is ongoing and a file will be prepared for the coroner’s court in due course, but detectives believe that Johnny attacked and killed his two older brothers with an axe before taking his own life.

Paddy, who lived at Linden Hill, Mitchelstown, is survived by his sister Breda, his daughter, Elaine, and his partner Kitty Russell. 

A floral wreath, spelling out the word grandad, was placed alongside his coffin in the hearse.

Willie, who lived at St Fanahan’s Court in Mitchelstown, is also mourned by his sister, Breda, his brother-in-law Ned, and nieces Elaine and Lisa.

The family has appealed for privacy and asked that messages of condolences be left online.

Two hearses and the funeral cortege leave from the church after requiem mass for brothers Paddy and Willie Hennessy. Photo: Larry Cummins

Detectives have built a detailed picture of the men’s movements in the hours before the alarm was raised on Thursday night but so far they have been unable to establish a motive for the fatal attack on Paddy and Willie.

Meanwhile, the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission is conducting a separate investigation into garda contacts with Johnny Hennessy on the Thursday evening before the alarm was raised.

It emerged in the days after the tragedy that gardaí from Mitchelstown telephoned Johnny at about 6pm on Thursday after they were contacted by a family member who expressed concerns about him. When gardaí phoned him and he said he was OK, they accepted his assurance and didn’t visit the farm at Curraghgorm.

This issue of the contact between gardaí and someone who died a short time later was referred to GSOC by a garda superintendent last Friday.