Kerry Babies: A prosecution in the case of Baby John?

Alison O’Reilly discusses the latest developments in the case.

Forty-two years after his lifeless body was discovered on White Strand near Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, a file has been sent to the DPP in relation to the violent death of an infant known only as Baby John.

Irish society was rocked by the discovery of two dead babies in different parts of Co Kerry in 1984. One of those babies, named John by the local undertaker, was found with stab wounds on the White Strand in Cahirciveen.

Joanne Hayes, from a different part of Kerry, was wrongly identified as Baby John’s mother by gardaí and went through a gruelling trial and tribunal, in which she was accused of the biological impossibility of being the mother of both babies, pregnant simultaneously by two different fathers. 

Her own baby had died of natural causes and been buried on her family farm. Ms Hayes's ordeal finally concluded in 2020 after a State apology and a High Court case.

The investigation into what happened to Baby John continues, with a man (60s) and woman (50s) arrested in 2023 following voluntary DNA examinations of the local population.

Irish Examiner reporter Alison O’Reilly discusses the latest developments in the case.