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You're listening to the Mens Rhea Podcast,

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and this is the story

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of Siobhan Hines.

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Ceann Tair na nGnollin is a cluster of low-lying

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islands situated off the north-western

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edge of Galway Bay in the Connemara-Gaeltacht

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region of Ireland.

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It is worlds apart from the hustle

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and bustle of Galway City, which is located

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just 56km away.

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Like much of Connemara, Irish is the

1:01

main language spoken by locals, and

1:04

the area has a strong association with traditional

1:06

culture, heritage and character.

1:09

Some of the islands in the archipelago are

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linked to the mainland by a series of

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bridges and causeways,

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the largest being Lettermálin, Garmna

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and Lettermore.

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In 1988, just over 500 people

1:23

lived in Lettermore. The local

1:25

economy was fuelled mainly by an influx

1:28

of teenage students from all over Ireland

1:31

to the nearby Irish language colleges that

1:33

ran during the summer months. However,

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winters in Lettermore could be long

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and dark, and with just a few

1:40

scattered pubs and small grocery shops

1:42

on the island, there wasn't much else for the young

1:45

people of the area to do except drive

1:47

around the winding roads listening to music

1:49

or maybe chance their luck at getting

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served alcohol in the local pub or disco.

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Like all of her friends, Siobhan Hines

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enjoyed the sense of security that came with the

2:00

came with living in such a small, tight-knit

2:02

community where everybody knew everybody else.

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While she had been shy as a child,

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she began to come out of her shell when she started

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attending the local secondary school, and

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her bright and friendly personality

2:13

made her popular among students and teachers

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alike.

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Her love of music had helped her to form

2:19

strong friendships with other like-minded

2:22

teens,

2:22

and she was a talented singer and musician.

2:25

Having just turned 17, Siobhan

2:28

had not yet reached the legal drinking

2:30

age of 18. However,

2:32

as was the culture at the time,

2:34

teens often started going to bars at the

2:36

age of 16 or

2:38

17. There

2:38

had been a national crackdown on venues

2:41

serving alcohol to underage drinkers in

2:43

the previous 12 months, resulting

2:45

in a number of licensed premises being shut

2:47

down, but many bar workers

2:50

still turned a blind eye to their underage

2:52

patrons.

2:54

Siobhan normally went out on a Saturday

2:56

night with her friends, first hitting the local

2:58

pub for a few drinks before travelling 10 miles

3:01

by taxi to the nearest village of

3:03

Onkararua, where a local

3:05

disco was held every week.

3:07

And so, on the night of Saturday

3:09

5th December 1998, her

3:12

mother breed dropped Siobhan and her

3:14

19-year-old sister Anya to Teague

3:17

Plunkett, a local pub near their

3:19

home, telling them both not to be late

3:21

and to be careful.

3:23

After spending a few hours in the local pub,

3:25

the group of friends got ready to travel to Onkararua,

3:28

where the recently built Oston Ndolin

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ran weekly discos for adults.

3:33

Another premises further up

3:35

the village also ran a disco for youths.

3:38

Siobhan was initially reluctant

3:40

to go to Onkararua, telling her sister Anya

3:43

that she wasn't too pushed. But when

3:45

a friend agreed to drive the group there, Siobhan

3:47

changed her mind, saying that she would go

3:49

for the spin, though she didn't intend

3:52

on going to the disco. They arrived

3:54

in Onkararua just before midnight,

3:57

and Siobhan's sister Anya left to go

3:59

into the Oston Ndolin. a doling disco. The

4:01

hotel was the first commercial landmark

4:04

on Unkera Roo's main thoroughfare, which

4:06

was a one kilometre stretch of straight

4:08

road lined on one side with a

4:10

pedestrian footpath and a series of low

4:13

stone walls.

4:14

The road was long and the bars, shops

4:17

and restaurants were spread a few hundred metres

4:19

apart along either side, with detached

4:21

houses and empty plots of land filling

4:24

in the space in between the businesses. A

4:26

number of other young adults, including the

4:29

driver of the car, went with Anya, leaving

4:31

Siobhan alone in the car with her friend Paul.

4:34

The pair weren't romantically involved but

4:36

they were good friends and they passed the

4:38

time easily, chatting and listening

4:40

to music on the tape deck.

4:42

As they sat there, Paul noticed a big blonde

4:44

man walking past.

4:46

When the man came past the car again a few minutes

4:48

later, he stopped and stared in at

4:50

Siobhan, but the pair took no notice

4:52

of it at the time.

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After sitting for a while, Siobhan said she

4:56

needed to go to the toilet, so she got

4:58

out of the car and crossed the road to Raelch-Namajen

5:01

pub.

5:02

Unfortunately, one of the doorman on

5:04

duty at the bar was also employed

5:06

as a school bus driver and he recognised

5:09

Siobhan as one of his regular passengers,

5:11

so she was refused entry on

5:14

the basis of being underage.

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She returned to the car but at 20

5:19

to 1 she left again, saying she was

5:21

going to head up to a nearby chipper's called Anfadoag

5:24

to use the bathroom there.

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The chip shop was just under a kilometre

5:29

away from where the car was parked and the walk

5:31

should have taken her less than 15 minutes.

5:34

She began walking in an easterly direction

5:37

along the main street towards the turn-off

5:39

for the Lettermore road where Anfadoag

5:41

was located.

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Having attended secondary school in Ankarua

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for the previous five years, Siobhan

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felt it home in the village and knew it like

5:50

the back of her hand.

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But despite her ease and knowledge

5:54

of the area,

5:55

she never made it to the restaurant and

5:58

never made it back to her friend's car. After

6:01

a while, when Siobhan hadn't returned

6:03

to the car, Paul became worried.

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It was very unlike her to take off and not

6:08

return, so he began to search the village

6:10

for any sign of her,

6:12

but found nothing, and none

6:14

of the staff at Onfadoq had seen her either.

6:17

By the time the driver of the car returned

6:20

from the disco some time later, Paul

6:22

had already looked in every venue in the

6:24

village,

6:25

but hadn't found Siobhan. He

6:27

couldn't understand why she hadn't returned.

6:29

Siobhan's

6:30

friends eventually travelled back

6:32

to let her more without her,

6:34

assuming that she had taken a lift home from

6:36

somebody she met on her way to Onfadoq.

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Meanwhile, once

6:41

the disco in Ankara Rua had finished,

6:43

Siobhan's sister Anya travelled back to

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let her more separately, unaware that

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Siobhan had not been seen since earlier

6:49

that night. On arriving home,

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she noticed that her sister had not returned but

6:54

thought nothing of it, as it wasn't unusual

6:56

for Siobhan to stay out later with her friends.

6:59

So Anya left the front door

7:01

of the house unlocked for her. When

7:03

her mother Brej woke the next morning, she

7:06

realised she hadn't heard Siobhan come home during

7:08

the night. She went to her daughter's bedroom

7:10

to check on her but found the bed hadn't been slept

7:13

in, and the room was exactly

7:15

as it had been the night before. It

7:17

was very out of character for Siobhan

7:19

to be out of contact for so long.

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She'd never stayed out all night, and Brej

7:24

was sure that she would have phoned if

7:26

she'd intended to do so. Brej

7:29

began to ring around Siobhan's friends to see

7:31

if she had stayed at any of their houses, but

7:33

when it dawned on her that nobody had seen her

7:36

daughter since the previous evening, she

7:38

began to panic

7:39

and phoned the local guard station

7:41

to report Siobhan missing. Siobhan's

7:44

family and friends knew instantly

7:46

that something was very wrong.

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Her father Andi headed into Ankara

7:51

Roo with his two other daughters to look

7:53

for Siobhan, while her mother Brej

7:55

stayed behind at the family home waiting

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for guard to pat O'Connor to call and take it home.

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description of her daughter and the details

8:02

of her disappearance. On

8:04

learning that Siobhan hadn't returned home the night

8:07

before, her friends got a taxi back to Angkaru

8:10

to see if they could find any trace of her.

8:12

The bitterly cold day went on with no

8:14

sign of Siobhan, and as the cloudy

8:17

December evening began to close in, one

8:19

member of the search group went looking for torches

8:21

so that they could continue to look for her.

8:24

But by the time he had returned, he

8:26

heard the news that Siobhan's body had

8:28

been found. It

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was at 20 past three that afternoon,

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along a wild and beautiful stretch

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of rocky foreshore on the beach of

8:37

Tishmon that Siobhan's body

8:40

was discovered.

8:41

The beach was two miles south of Angkaru

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in a rocky inlet. Tommy Kelly,

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a local farmer, was out hunting for rats and

8:49

crows with his dogs

8:51

when one of his cocker spaniels raced ahead of him.

8:53

Mr. Kelly followed her to see what had attracted

8:56

her attention, and he noticed a girl

8:58

lying on her side in a narrow side

9:00

channel at the shore.

9:02

Her feet were caught in one jagged rock

9:04

edge, and her right cheek was resting in the

9:06

recess of another. The tide was out,

9:08

but it was on the turn. Kelly

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approached the girl, and when he saw what

9:13

looked like blood coming from her nose, he

9:15

asked her if she was alright.

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He got no reply, so he moved closer and

9:19

asked again before realising that

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the girl was deceased. He then ran

9:24

towards the village of Angkaruwa to

9:26

inform Garde.

9:28

News of the discovery spread like wildfire

9:30

through the close-knit community.

9:32

Siobhan's father, Andy, was in the village of Angkaruwa

9:35

along with his two other daughters, Anya and

9:37

14-year-old Fiona, when they spotted

9:39

a group of girls outside a shop.

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He was sure that one of them was Siobhan.

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He told his daughters to go over to the group and tell

9:46

Siobhan to get back home, that quote, half

9:48

the country's out looking for her. But as

9:50

the girl he had thought was Siobhan turned towards

9:53

him, he realised instantly that it wasn't

9:55

her. The three got back into the

9:57

car and were just about to return home when

9:59

they were flying. down by Andy's sister-in-law

10:01

and the parish priest, who told him the

10:04

awful news. Andy had

10:06

to go to the beach to identify his daughter's

10:08

body while the parish priest travelled

10:10

to the Heinz home to pass on the heartbreaking

10:13

news to breed.

10:15

There were few obvious marks on Siobhan's

10:17

body, but there were definite signs

10:19

of a struggle, so Gardi sealed off

10:21

the area and launched a full-scale murder

10:23

investigation.

10:25

The teenager's body was found fully clothed

10:27

except for her underwear and her jeans

10:29

and platform shoes were undone, suggesting

10:32

that she had been sexually assaulted. Her blue

10:34

polyester fleece jacket was

10:36

found near her body on the beach. Because

10:39

of rising tides on Tishmon Beach, Siobhan's

10:42

remains had to be moved, and it was

10:44

thought that if she hadn't been found when she was,

10:46

her body would have been taken out to sea, and

10:49

valuable evidence would have been washed

10:51

away.

10:53

As Gardi began their murder investigation

10:55

that evening, a local man named

10:57

John McDonough sat in the Raelj Namajan

11:00

pub drinking.

11:01

The 23-year-old builder's laborer

11:03

had been the first customer into the bar that

11:05

afternoon. McDonough had

11:07

a reputation as an angry and aggressive

11:10

person, and he was well known to the local Gardi.

11:13

He had in fact been involved in a number

11:15

of incidents in Angkaru the previous

11:17

night. According to Rita

11:20

O'Reilly, who reported extensively on

11:22

this case, McDonough had been in a relationship

11:24

with a local woman named Morabridge

11:26

Shoaga, though her surname appears

11:29

as the anglicised Joyce in most publications.

11:32

Together they had a five-year-old daughter, but

11:34

their relationship had ended in September

11:37

of 1998. This

11:38

separation was not amicable,

11:41

and on the night of December 5, McDonough

11:44

had spotted Miss Shoaga with her new partner

11:46

Ryan Wilcox in a pub in Angkaruwa.

11:49

The couple noticed McDonough was glaring at

11:52

them, and eventually they became so uncomfortable

11:54

that they slipped out through the side door of the pub

11:56

to get away from him.

11:58

However, as Miss Shoaga and Mr

12:00

Wilcox queued to get into the disco

12:02

at Ostana Daliin, McDonough appeared

12:04

behind them and started shouting.

12:07

There was a scuffle between the men and once she

12:09

got inside the hotel, Miss Schoiga

12:11

called Gardie to report the assault.

12:14

Three Garda members arrived in a patrol

12:16

car to the hotel at around midnight where

12:18

they found McDonough in a very agitated

12:21

state.

12:22

The Gardie warned him that he would be arrested

12:24

if he continued to cause trouble.

12:26

After a while, McDonough left the premises

12:28

and walked across the road to sit on the low

12:30

wall opposite the hotel.

12:33

Gardie remained in town to monitor

12:35

the situation and noted McDonough's red

12:37

Ford Mondeo driving in the town

12:40

and parking in a recessed area by

12:42

the rail to Namadjan pub. 30

12:44

minutes later, they spotted McDonough again

12:46

sitting on the stone wall across from the hotel.

12:49

The guards pulled over and told

12:51

McDonough to go home, but he refused.

12:54

After that, the officers called out to McDonough's

12:56

family home, hoping to speak to his parents

12:58

to see if they could elicit some sense

13:01

of accountability from him, but there was no

13:03

answer when they knocked on the door and windows

13:05

of the house. They

13:06

returned to the hotel at 10 past 1 but

13:08

by that time both McDonough and the car

13:11

were gone. The guards were still worried

13:13

that he might cause further trouble so they actively

13:15

patrolled the area but found no sign

13:17

of him.

13:19

McDonough wasn't seen again until half past 2

13:21

when he was involved in another fight, this time

13:24

outside on Fadog Takeaway, where a number

13:26

of locals saw him hitting another man two

13:28

or three times in the face.

13:30

He was then observed driving from the village

13:32

at around 3am.

13:35

Superintendent Jim Sugru led the

13:38

murder inquiry and a team of 50 uniformed

13:40

Gardie and detectives began combing the beach

13:42

of Tishmaine and the surrounding areas while

13:45

officers also started door-to-door

13:47

inquiries in Anka-Haruwa and Tishmaine.

13:50

Gardie questioned the youngsters who had been

13:52

in the company of Siobhan on the night she was murdered

13:55

and quickly eliminated all of them from

13:57

their inquiries. However, when

13:58

they spoke to her, they were not able to get the friend Paul, he

14:01

told them that when Siobhan returned to the car

14:03

after being refused entry at Raelton-Emodion,

14:06

she said that she had quote, just met

14:08

that weirdo John McDonough on the road.

14:12

Siobhan's remains were taken to University

14:14

College Hospital Galway, where Deputy

14:16

State Pathologist Dr. Mary Cassidy

14:19

carried out a post-mortem.

14:21

Dr. Cassidy found large amounts of

14:23

seawater in Siobhan's lungs, leading

14:25

her to determine that the primary cause of death

14:28

was drowning.

14:29

However, in addition to evidence of drowning, there

14:31

were other injuries apparent on Siobhan's body,

14:34

including marks to her neck, scratch marks

14:36

on her torso, and injuries to her

14:38

pelvic area.

14:48

On Tuesday 8 December, officers

14:50

combing a boring 200m from

14:53

Tishmaine Beach found Siobhan's underwear,

14:56

along with a much-loved necklace which

14:58

was a half-heart-shaped silver pendant

15:00

engraved with the word forever. Siobhan's

15:02

best friend had a necklace with the

15:04

corresponding half-heart pendant, bearing

15:07

the word friends.

15:09

The discovery of these items on the isolated

15:11

laneway led investigators to surmise

15:13

that Siobhan had struggled with her attacker and

15:16

had been assaulted there before being brought

15:18

to the beach and killed.

15:20

During the discovery of his daughter's necklace,

15:22

Siobhan's heartbroken father made

15:24

an appeal to help catch her killer, saying,

15:27

quote, I never want any parents to

15:29

go through what we've been through. The

15:31

last few days have been just terrible.

15:34

Please, if anyone knows what happened to Siobhan,

15:36

contact the guardian now. The

15:39

small communities of Lether Moore and

15:41

Unkaruru were deeply shocked by the

15:43

brutal murder of such a young and vibrant

15:46

girl.

15:47

Classes at Tisko Kumsakiran,

15:49

where Siobhan was studying for her leaving cert, were

15:51

cancelled for the next week, as students

15:54

tried to come to terms with the enormity

15:56

of what had happened to their friend.

15:59

Wednesday 9th December, a steady

16:02

stream of friends and family passed

16:04

through the Heinz House as they held a traditional

16:06

wake for Siobhan.

16:08

Before they closed her casket, Siobhan's

16:11

best friend put her own half-heart section

16:13

of the matching necklace pendant in with

16:15

Siobhan.

16:17

Siobhan's coffin was taken the short

16:19

journey from her home to let her more church

16:21

for her funeral mass.

16:23

As a member of the local choir, she had

16:25

been preparing for Christmas celebrations in

16:27

the church, but instead of seasonal carols

16:30

ringing out, it was Siobhan's favourite

16:32

song, the theme music from Titanic

16:35

that moved the congregation to tears.

16:37

At the Requiem Mass the following morning,

16:39

Siobhan's friends brought offatory

16:42

gifts to symbolise who she was in life,

16:44

a teddy bear to show the love Siobhan

16:46

had for her family, a school diary

16:48

to represent her many friendships, her

16:51

favourite CD to symbolise her love of

16:53

music,

16:54

and a painting that she had completed to demonstrate

16:56

her love of art.

16:58

Several of the teens were overcome as they

17:00

explained the significance of the gifts.

17:03

At the conclusion of the Mass, Siobhan's uncle

17:05

gave a moving tribute to his niece asking

17:08

the congregation to quote, show their appreciation

17:10

of Siobhan's 17 lovely years,

17:13

at which point the entire church broke

17:15

into applause.

17:17

Afterwards, the whole community lined the road

17:19

in a guard of honour as the coffin was taken

17:21

to the local cemetery for burial.

17:25

As Siobhan was being laid to rest,

17:27

the hunt for her killer took a new turn

17:30

when members of the Garda Sabakwa Unit began

17:32

to search the sea off Tishmon Beach.

17:35

Superintendent Sugru confirmed to

17:37

members of the press that they were looking for

17:39

a specific object, but he couldn't release

17:41

the nature of the object, for operational

17:43

reasons.

17:45

A week to the day after Siobhan was last

17:47

seen alive, a breakthrough was made when

17:49

officers combing the beach and surrounding area

17:52

at Tishmon found her watch close

17:54

to the scene where her body had been discovered.

17:57

The watch had stopped at 4.30am, and the scene

17:59

was

18:00

and a Garda spokesman said that the find

18:02

was significant.

18:04

That night was a Saturday, and a team

18:06

of investigators handed out questionnaires

18:08

to people who were socialising in Ankara.

18:12

The idea was that many of the same

18:14

people would have been out on the night of Siobhan's

18:16

murder,

18:17

and Gardi thought it was a good opportunity

18:19

to come up with new leads in the case.

18:21

Investigators were particularly interested

18:24

in finding out how Siobhan had travelled

18:26

the two miles from Ankara village

18:29

to the beach at Tishmon, though it was

18:31

believed that she may have been given a lift by somebody

18:33

she knew.

18:36

The finger of suspicion had been pointing

18:38

towards John McDonough from very early

18:40

in the investigation. Some of the Gardi

18:43

who were on duty when Siobhan's body was found

18:45

had also been the ones who dealt with McDonough

18:47

in the village the night before. It

18:49

emerged that as the officers drove

18:51

the road to McDonough's house to try and rouse

18:53

his parents on the night Siobhan was murdered,

18:56

they believed that McDonough himself may

18:58

have been driving on a parallel boorine

19:01

leading off the main road to his home, and

19:03

as the Garda patrol car came back up past

19:06

the junction of this parallel boorine on

19:08

its return, it was speculated that

19:10

they may have just missed McDonough's red

19:13

mondayo heading down towards the foreshore

19:15

beyond his house.

19:17

Like most of the locals in the area, McDonough

19:20

had made two witness statements to Gardi

19:22

on December 7th and 8th.

19:24

While giving his initial statement, Gardi

19:27

noticed a number of scratches up to five

19:29

inches long on his side and arms.

19:32

McDonough seemed worried about them but claimed

19:34

they had happened during the altercation with his

19:37

ex-partner and her new boyfriend outside

19:39

Ostana Dolin.

19:41

He was asked for a blood sample which he

19:43

gave and when Gardi requested

19:45

that he hand over the top he was wearing on the

19:47

night of December 5th,

19:49

McDonough gave them a white hooded Adidas

19:52

sweatshirt with blue stripes. However,

19:54

this didn't match with witness accounts

19:57

and CCTV footage which showed

19:59

McDonough a bar in Galway City Centre

20:02

early on the evening of the 5th wearing a white

20:04

v-neck jumper.

20:06

And so at half past six on Monday

20:08

the 14th of December, a team of 15

20:11

armed Garde, led by Superintendent

20:14

Sugru, surrounded the home of John

20:16

McDonough in Unqueraroa.

20:18

They brought him to the district headquarters at

20:20

Salt Hill for questioning. They

20:23

also raided McDonough's family home, removing

20:25

his red Ford Mondeo along with several

20:28

items of clothing, including a white

20:30

ribbed v-neck jumper that would prove

20:32

to be crucial to their case.

20:35

McDonough was questioned for 12 hours

20:37

before being released without charge.

20:40

Two days later, Superintendent Sugru

20:42

appealed for any witnesses who may have

20:44

seen Siobhan getting into a car shortly

20:47

after a quarter to one on the morning of her death

20:49

to come forward.

20:51

While acknowledging the excellent cooperation

20:53

of locals so far, Sugru said, quote,

20:56

we feel there may be people out there who have

20:58

important information without realising

21:01

the significance of it. I'm hoping that

21:03

this latest appeal

21:04

will help jog people's memories.

21:07

He said that the investigation had intensified

21:09

and confirmed that sections of the car

21:12

seized in the Monday morning raid had

21:14

been retained by Garde and sent to

21:16

Dublin for forensic examination. He

21:19

added that Garde were determined

21:21

to bring the investigation to a successful conclusion

21:24

and confirmed that they were following a number

21:26

of lines of inquiry.

21:29

According to an article written by Declan Varley

21:31

for the Irish Examiner, following Superintendent

21:34

Sugru's appeal, Garde amplified

21:36

their presence in Ankeruwa as threats

21:38

were issued against McDonough.

21:41

Siobhan's heartbroken family gave an interview

21:44

for the Christmas week edition of the City Tribune,

21:46

in which her parents appealed once again for anyone

21:49

with information to come forward. They

21:51

spoke to journalist Kiran Tierney

21:54

in their family kitchen, where birthday cards

21:56

in celebration of Siobhan's 17th

21:58

birthday now sat alongside the family kitchen.

21:59

side hordes of sympathy cards that

22:02

had been sent from well-meaning supporters

22:04

from all over the country.

22:07

Siobhan's mother, Briege, said, quote,

22:09

We are not going to have a Christmas, we are completely

22:11

numb with the agony and pain.

22:14

Siobhan was looking forward to Christmas and

22:16

would have put up the tree in her own decorations.

22:18

Andy Hines said it would ease

22:21

the pain for the family somewhat if they

22:23

knew that the murderer had been caught. He

22:25

said, quote, Siobhan was a quiet girl

22:27

at home but when she went out she was the life and

22:29

soul of the party. She did what

22:32

normal 17-year-olds did. She had good

22:34

friends and this was a happy home. If

22:36

the murderer was caught, at least then we

22:39

would know that this would not happen to another family.

22:42

Briege said that she would have found it easier to

22:44

accept her daughter's death if she had been killed in

22:46

a car accident rather than being attacked

22:49

and left for dead, quote, like a rag

22:51

doll.

22:52

On January 13th, 1999, McDonough was arrested again.

22:56

This time on the back of forensic

22:59

evidence related to the fibres found

23:01

on the white v-neck jumper that Garde

23:03

seized in the previous raid.

23:05

His mother Maggie McDonough was also taken

23:08

in for questioning on suspicion of withholding

23:10

information, along with a third

23:12

unnamed man in his twenties. As

23:15

they were led away to be questioned, Maggie turned

23:17

to her son John and was reported to a

23:19

said, quote, Don't say anything and I'll

23:22

stand by you. Mrs McDonough

23:24

spent much of her time in detention singing Shan

23:26

No songs and saying little else, apart

23:29

from confirming that she had washed the white

23:31

v-neck jumper since the events of December

23:33

5th.

23:34

All three were subjected to 12 hours

23:37

of questioning before being released without

23:39

charge, though this time Garde announced

23:41

that they were preparing to send a file of more than 500

23:43

pages to the Director

23:45

of Public Prosecutions.

23:48

Six months after Siobhan's murder, on

23:50

June 17th, 1999, McDonough was arrested yet again as

23:54

he worked in a lorry yard in County Kildare.

23:57

He was taken to Trim Garde Station, where

23:59

was charged with the murder and rape of

24:02

Siobhan Hines.

24:04

Following a number of court hearings, McDonough

24:06

was released on bail to await trial.

24:08

Due to a huge backlog of serious

24:10

crimes waiting to be tried, it was expected

24:13

that the case would not be heard for some time.

24:15

However, McDonough's bail was

24:17

revoked in September of 2000, when

24:20

he was charged with soliciting a sex

24:22

worker.

24:24

John McDonough's trial finally opened

24:27

on May 9th 2001.

24:30

He stood charged with the murder of Siobhan

24:32

Hines, as well as a second charge

24:35

of unlawful sexual intercourse,

24:37

and a third charge of sexual assault

24:39

and circumstances that included penetration

24:42

by an object.

24:43

He denied all three charges.

24:46

The nature of the rape allegations meant

24:48

that McDonough was given anonymity in

24:50

the media for the duration of the trial, and

24:53

the proceedings were held in camera, meaning

24:55

members of the public who were not involved in

24:57

the case were not allowed into the courtroom.

25:01

In his opening statement, Dennis Von Buckley,

25:03

Senior Counsel, told the jury that they

25:06

would hear forensic evidence which would show

25:08

how fibres from clothes worn

25:10

by the schoolgirl were found on the accused

25:13

jumper and on the front passenger

25:15

seat of his car.

25:17

He also told the court that evidence

25:19

of post-mortem would show that Siobhan

25:22

died of drowning and compression of the

25:24

neck after being subjected to

25:26

a vicious sexual assault.

25:29

The prosecution said Mr. Buckley would

25:31

call witnesses who would allege that as

25:33

Siobhan sat in her friend's car outside

25:36

Austin and Dollyn that night, a quote,

25:38

big blondie fellow in his twenties was

25:41

sitting on a wall near the car, and

25:43

that he quote, passed by the car

25:46

on a few occasions and looked in.

25:48

Mr. Buckley added that they

25:50

would allege that this man was John McDonough,

25:53

and that neither he nor his

25:55

red Ford Mondeo were seen anywhere

25:57

in the village of Uncarrowa during the

25:59

time.

25:59

it would be alleged that Siobhan was

26:02

raped and murdered.

26:04

Breed Hines was one of the first witnesses

26:06

to be called to the stand.

26:08

She broke down a number of times as she told

26:10

the jury how she had dropped Siobhan to the pub

26:13

in letter more on the evening that she died.

26:15

She said that Siobhan was always happy and

26:17

smiling and that she didn't have a regular

26:20

boyfriend but she'd been asked to the upcoming

26:22

Debs ball by a local boy. Siobhan's

26:26

sister Anya gave evidence that Siobhan

26:28

had been reluctant to go to Ankher Rua

26:30

that night. However, she said that Siobhan

26:32

had eventually changed her mind and decided

26:35

to go.

26:36

When they got to Oston-on-Dilin, Anya

26:38

said that she left her sister in the car and

26:40

never saw her again.

26:43

The second day of the trial opened with retired

26:45

guard Apat O'Connor giving evidence of

26:48

how he spoke to the accused in the aftermath

26:50

of the altercation between McDonough and

26:53

his ex-partner at Oston-on-Dilin.

26:55

Presented with a white ribbed jumper in

26:58

court, the now former officer said that it was

27:00

similar in every respect to the one

27:02

that he remembered the accused wearing on the

27:04

night in question.

27:06

The sleeves were rolled up, he said, and

27:08

he'd been standing close to him for some time

27:10

and he'd noticed no marks on McDonough's

27:13

arms.

27:14

Retired guard O'Connor said that

27:16

McDonough was very agitated and

27:19

the three guardie had tried to calm him

27:21

down that night before he walked across the

27:23

road and sat on the wall.

27:25

As the officers left the premises a

27:27

while later they saw McDonough's car

27:29

turning around on the road before pulling into

27:32

a recessed area beside Railton-Namajan

27:34

pub. At around half past 12 O'Connor

27:36

said that the guardie noticed that the car was

27:38

still there.

27:39

They also noticed Siobhan Hines sitting

27:42

in the passenger seat of another car with her friend

27:44

in the backseat. On driving past

27:47

the hotel a second time the patrol car

27:49

pulled up beside McDonough and the retired

27:51

guardie said that he told McDonough to

27:53

go home,

27:54

to which McDonough had replied, quote, it's

27:57

a free fucking country. O'Connor

27:59

said that he his colleagues later went to the McDonough

28:01

family home and that the lights were on and

28:04

the key was in the lock but nobody answered

28:06

to their knocking. They continued

28:08

patrolling the area, he said, wanting to

28:10

find McDonough and his red Ford Mondeo.

28:13

Quote, The fact that John McDonough was not

28:15

at home, I was concerned about his whereabouts

28:18

and his condition that night.

28:20

McDonough's ex-partner, Moira Breed-Shoaga,

28:23

told the court that she and her new boyfriend,

28:26

Ryan Wilcox, had encountered McDonough at

28:28

the Royalton-Maboggin on the evening of December

28:31

5th 1998 and that McDonough's behaviour was

28:33

so intimidating that the pair had left at the

28:35

side door of the pub to get away from him. A

28:38

short time later she said, as she and Mr

28:40

Wilcox queued outside Oston-Adelon,

28:42

McDonough appeared behind them and started

28:44

verbally abusing the couple, before assaulting

28:47

both of them.

28:48

When she got away and as she stood in the

28:51

hall of the hotel waiting for the Garde to

28:53

arrive,

28:53

she said, quote, I could see him through the window

28:56

outside, pacing. He was pacing

28:58

for a while and then he left.

29:01

In cross-examination from Barry

29:03

White's senior council for the defence, Ms

29:05

Shoiga said that McDonough had been enraged

29:08

with her for a while before that, since

29:10

she'd broken up with him.

29:12

Tommy Kelly, the farmer who had discovered Siobhan's

29:15

body on the beach at Tishmon, told

29:17

the jury how he routinely went hunting

29:19

with his dogs for rats and crows in the area.

29:22

He said that on Sunday December 6th 1998 he

29:25

spotted some crows and magpies on the foreshore

29:28

and had gone out with his dogs and his single

29:30

barrel shotgun. Mr Kelly

29:32

described how once on the shoreline his

29:35

cocker spaniel raced off ahead of him.

29:37

He'd followed her to see what had drawn her attention

29:39

and it was then he'd seen Siobhan's body. Mr Kelly

29:41

said he'd called out asking

29:43

if she was alright twice before realising

29:46

that she was dead.

29:47

Mr Barry White asked the witness if he

29:49

had noticed anything unusual in the area

29:51

the night before which Mr Kelly replied

29:54

that he had been up a number of times checking

29:56

a cow that was due to deliver

29:58

but he hadn't seen or heard anything

30:01

unusual.

30:02

After this, Deputy State Pathologist

30:05

Dr. Mary Cassidy gave evidence of

30:07

post-mortem examination to the jury, telling

30:09

barrister Paul Coffey that she had

30:11

determined Siobhan's cause of death as

30:13

drowning with a contributory cause

30:16

of compression of the neck.

30:17

Dr. Cassidy said quote, given

30:19

the severity of the injuries to the neck, there

30:21

is a strong possibility that Ms. Hines

30:24

was already unconscious when she went into the

30:26

water. According to Dr.

30:28

Cassidy, in addition to features of drowning

30:30

and injuries to the neck, the post-mortem

30:32

showed evidence of sexual assault.

30:35

This included severe injuries to the

30:37

vagina as well as injuries to the anus.

30:39

The neck injuries suggested

30:41

that the girl had been gripped with sufficient

30:43

force to fracture the larynx, but that

30:45

this pressure was released before it could cause

30:48

her death.

30:49

Dr. Cassidy also said that scratch marks

30:51

on Siobhan's lower torso were

30:53

caused before her genes were put back

30:56

on, and that these and the presence of grass

30:58

and vegetation inside her suggested

31:00

that the sexual assaults had taken place on

31:03

an area of rough ground. Although

31:05

when she was found, Siobhan's bra

31:07

was fastened, the pathologist said that

31:10

it had been pulled up at the front to expose her breasts

31:12

and her genes were on but unzipped.

31:15

The laces of her platformed shoes were also

31:17

undone. Defence

31:19

Council Barry White asked Dr. Cassidy

31:21

if a fall on the foreshore could account

31:24

for the injuries to Siobhan's neck,

31:26

to which the pathologist replied, quote,

31:28

no, there are very distinct patterns

31:30

of injury here,

31:31

the neck is one of those areas of the body that

31:34

is partly protected, and it

31:36

would be extremely unusual to fall and

31:38

get these injuries without there being similar

31:41

injuries elsewhere in the body,

31:43

and there were none of these present.

31:46

After a break for the weekend, the trial reconvened

31:49

on May 14th when a male

31:51

acquaintance of John McDonough gave evidence.

31:54

He said he had worked with the accused for a few

31:56

weeks before the killing. He told

31:58

Dennis Von Buckley that he and McDonough

32:00

had spent the day of December 5th in

32:02

Galway City drinking in a number of pubs.

32:06

Then a young woman who was in the same year as

32:08

Siobhan Hines in school said that

32:11

she had met McDonough by chance in a hotel

32:13

in Air Square.

32:14

She said he was wearing a white v-necked

32:17

wool top and that he had the sleeves

32:19

pulled up to the elbows.

32:21

Later that night, she said she saw McDonough

32:23

in a local pub in Unkararua at

32:25

around 10pm and he was wearing the exact

32:28

same top.

32:29

The girl saw him for a third time at around

32:32

half past two on a path across

32:34

from Onfado Chip Shop, but

32:36

at this time she said he was wearing a black t-shirt

32:39

and black jeans.

32:41

A friend and neighbour of McDonough then recalled

32:43

for the course that he had bumped into the accused

32:46

in a local pub in the early afternoon

32:48

of December 6th. He said that McDonough

32:50

was wearing a dark t-shirt and that he'd noticed

32:52

marks on McDonough's arm.

32:54

The man said that the marks were an oval-shaped

32:57

arc, similar to a top set of teeth,

32:59

and he joked with McDonough that somebody must have been

33:02

hungry last night.

33:03

He alleged that McDonough said it must have happened the night

33:06

before at the chip shop, as some guy

33:08

had started on him and McDonough had given him

33:10

a couple of clouds.

33:12

Following this testimony, the trial heard

33:14

from a waitress who was thought

33:16

to be the last person to see Siobhan

33:18

Hines alive.

33:20

The girl was working part-time and

33:22

the night of Siobhan's death she was returning

33:24

to the hotel where she worked to get an asthma

33:27

inhaler for a friend who was waiting for

33:29

her up the road.

33:31

The waitress said that she met Siobhan on the roadway

33:33

at about a quarter to one or ten to one.

33:35

Siobhan greeted her and the

33:37

waitress said hello back. She

33:39

said that once they'd passed each other Siobhan

33:42

had continued walking in a direction away

33:44

from the hotel.

33:46

The waitress's friend who was sitting on a wall

33:48

further up the road waiting for the inhaler

33:50

said that she'd seen a car coming

33:52

from the hotel direction.

33:54

It stopped nearby and she'd

33:56

heard a car door open and close but

33:59

she didn't see any-

33:59

one as the lights of the car were off.

34:02

The car moved off and

34:04

the witness thought it strange that the car

34:06

had indicated left but had then

34:09

made a right turn.

34:11

On Tuesday the 15th of May the

34:13

court heard from a former friend of McDonough's

34:16

who testified that he saw McDonough twice

34:19

on the night of the killing,

34:20

once in the pub early in the evening and then

34:22

again at about a quarter to three outside

34:25

the chip shop. He said he came across

34:27

McDonough again the next day and noticed

34:29

quote scratch marks on both arms. The

34:32

witness told the jury quote he

34:34

was distant, he was quieter than

34:36

usual, very quiet.

34:38

Two days later the man said he spoke to McDonough

34:41

on the phone.

34:42

McDonough had asked him if Gardee had spoken

34:44

to him and then he wanted to know what

34:46

questions they'd asked him. McDonough

34:49

went on to tell the man that he had an alibi

34:51

for his car because it was parked

34:53

outside the local hotel all night.

34:55

The witness testified quote he

34:57

told me he was talking to Siobhan Hines that

34:59

night, he said she approached him and said

35:02

how you and he said how you back.

35:04

He went on to say that McDonough had claimed

35:06

that Siobhan asked if McDonough remembered

35:08

her and when he said no she had told

35:10

him she had had a one night stand with his friends

35:13

a few years back.

35:15

The friend said that he had then asked

35:17

the accused if he told Gardee that

35:19

he had spoken to Siobhan and McDonough

35:21

said that he hadn't.

35:23

The next witness, a local teenager,

35:26

told the Prosecution's junior counsel

35:28

Paul Coffey that he saw McDonough hanging

35:30

around and fighting outside on Faddog

35:33

Chip Shop at around half past two. He

35:35

said that McDonough hit another man a few times

35:37

across the face with his fist.

35:39

Prior to that the witness said he had not

35:41

seen McDonough in the vicinity at all. Then

35:45

the man who had been hit by McDonough

35:47

outside the Chip Shop gave evidence in Irish

35:50

admitting that he was quote quite

35:52

steamed and that he'd left the disco at

35:54

around half past two. He said he

35:56

could remember meeting McDonough outside the

35:59

takeaway but that he

35:59

couldn't remember much more. The witness

36:02

told the court, quote, I think he hit

36:04

me, that's as far as I can remember.

36:07

Another witness said he spoke to McDonough

36:09

near the chip shop, and that he seemed very

36:11

angry with Ryan Wilcox.

36:14

McDonough told the witness that he had a scuffle

36:16

with Mr Wilcox up at Oston-on-Dolly,

36:19

and that he had gone home and gone to

36:21

bed, but the situation was, quote,

36:23

wrecking his head and he couldn't sleep, so

36:26

McDonough had got up and went out to look for

36:28

Wilcox again.

36:30

The trial continued with a steady stream

36:33

of local witnesses all giving their accounts

36:35

of how and when they encountered John McDonough

36:37

in the early hours of December the 6th, 1998. A

36:41

next-door neighbour told the court that he was

36:43

being dropped off near his house at about 10 to 3

36:46

when the accused pulled up behind him and they

36:48

had some small talk.

36:50

The neighbour said that McDonough seemed a bit agitated

36:52

as he told him about the fights he had been in that night.

36:55

They spoke for around 15 minutes and

36:57

it was exactly 3am when

36:59

he got home.

37:02

On May 21st, Inspector PJ

37:04

Durkin testified that when he took an

37:07

initial witness statement from John McDonough

37:09

on December 6th, 1998, he

37:11

noticed scratch marks up to five inches

37:13

long on his side and arms.

37:15

When asked about the scratches, McDonough said that

37:17

in the course of the row outside Oston-on-Dolly

37:20

the night before, a lot of women were there

37:22

and that was how he had gotten the injuries.

37:25

Detective Sergeant Derry Roach told the

37:27

court that the accused was quote, extremely

37:29

worried about the scrape marks on his arms

37:32

and had fretted over how he would

37:34

explain them.

37:35

Mr Barry White asked if any

37:37

photos of the injuries had been taken

37:40

and Detective Sergeant Roach conceded

37:42

that Gardee hadn't taken any despite

37:45

the presence of a Polaroid camera at the

37:47

station.

37:48

Superintendent Jim Sugru gave

37:51

evidence next. He had retired in

37:53

the two years it had taken to bring the case to

37:55

trial.

37:56

He told the central criminal court that he

37:58

approached McDonough at Ballygora.

37:59

in County Kildare on June 17th, 1999. As the superintendent

38:02

identified himself,

38:04

McDonough

38:07

had said, quote, I know, I know. The superintendent

38:10

then described McDonough's reaction as they

38:12

prepared to handcuff him, saying the accused

38:15

had held out his two hands together at the wrists,

38:17

and Sugru alleged the accused had said,

38:20

quote, put them on, I was expecting you.

38:23

On behalf of his client, Mr. Barry White suggested

38:25

to the superintendent that McDonough, quote,

38:28

never spoken those words, and

38:30

went on to say that the accused denied

38:32

ever having made such a statement.

38:43

The most compelling evidence in the case

38:46

came on the 11th day of the trial,

38:48

when a scientist from the state lab, Dr.

38:51

Louise McKenna, testified that numerous

38:53

fibres matching Siobhan Heinze's clothing

38:56

were found on the jumper worn by

38:58

John McDonough on the night of the killing.

39:01

Fibres matching Siobhan's clothes were

39:03

also found on the passenger seat of McDonough's

39:06

car, and two red acrylic

39:08

fibres that matched a seat cover in his

39:10

car were found on Siobhan's clothes.

39:13

Dr. McKenna said that the fibres from

39:15

Siobhan Heinze came from three different

39:17

items of clothing, her jumper, jacket

39:20

and socks, and that the possibility

39:23

that these collective fibres could have originated

39:25

from a source other than Siobhan Heinze

39:28

was very remote.

39:30

The doctor confirmed that her findings gave

39:32

very strong support to the theory

39:34

that Siobhan was in contact with McDonough's

39:37

jumper and that she had been in his car.

39:40

The day after Dr. McKenna's evidence,

39:42

a jeweller named David Brennan told

39:44

the trial that Siobhan's watch had stopped

39:47

at half past four, suggesting that

39:49

this was the time it was submerged in

39:51

water.

39:52

Mr. Brennan said that he believed the watch

39:54

would have short-circuited instantly when

39:56

the water hit it. Following

39:59

Mr. Brennan's evidence, evidence, the jury was sent

40:01

away for a week as legal argument

40:03

began in its absence before Mr

40:06

Justice Patrick Smith.

40:07

This legal argument related to two

40:10

things, one being the lack of

40:12

evidence relating to the ordinary rape

40:14

charge and the other being who would

40:16

be allowed in the courtroom when John McDonough

40:19

took to the stand.

40:20

As the proceedings were held in camera,

40:23

only people who were directly taking part

40:25

in the trial were allowed to be in the courtroom.

40:27

McDonough's legal team used this condition

40:30

to have a number of members of the Heinz family

40:32

excluded from the courtroom as he gave evidence.

40:36

When the court reconvened on June 5th,

40:39

the prosecution called evidence of McDonough's

40:41

second arrest in January

40:44

1999. During the course of this interview with Gardee,

40:47

when asked to explain why fibres

40:49

from Siobhan Heinz's jumper and fleece

40:51

were found on his jumper, McDonough replied

40:54

only quote, go and find out who did it.

40:57

Detective Garda Thomas O'Shea told

40:59

the court that when asked to tell the truth for

41:01

the sake of his family, McDonough responded

41:03

quote, I can't.

41:05

When McDonough was again presented with the

41:07

information that forensic scientist could

41:09

link him with Siobhan, the accused

41:12

was alleged to have replied quote, I

41:14

know I cannot dispute what the scientist

41:16

says.

41:17

Gardee put it to him that it was the truth and

41:19

McDonough replied yes. The

41:22

interviewing officer had then asked him quote,

41:25

it was never meant to happen was it?

41:27

McDonough was alleged to have replied no.

41:30

Under cross examination, Barry White

41:32

asked Garda O'Shea about the particular

41:35

dialect of Irish that he spoke.

41:37

Garda O'Shea said that he spoke a

41:39

Munster dialect of the language. He

41:42

affirmed that there were quote, some

41:44

differences between Munster Irish and the Irish

41:46

spoken in Connemara.

41:48

Mr White said that his client would tell the court

41:50

that he wasn't able to follow the Irish spoken

41:53

by the detective and that he would also contest

41:55

the replies recorded in a written memo

41:57

of the custody interview.

41:59

Defence barrister put it to Garda O'Shea

42:02

that when asked to tell the truth, the more

42:04

accurate version of what McDonough had said

42:06

was, quote, I can't because I know

42:08

nothing about it.

42:10

Garda O'Shea refuted this, saying,

42:13

quote, I recorded what he said.

42:16

On June 7th, McDonough's Defence Council

42:19

asked to recall the Deputy State

42:21

Pathologist for further cross-examination.

42:24

When Dr Cassidy took to the stand for the second

42:26

time, she was questioned about a report she

42:28

had written for Garda O'Shea minutes after

42:30

finishing the post-mortem.

42:32

The report stated that the fracture of the larynx

42:34

and bruising to the neck in absence of

42:37

asphyxial signs suggested

42:39

that Siobhan Hines had been grabbed by the neck,

42:41

quote, to restrain rather than to strangle.

42:45

Dr Cassidy told the court that she left her

42:47

final post-mortem report open-ended.

42:49

It was also factually incorrect,

42:52

she said, because of the term absence

42:54

of asphyxial signs. The pathologist

42:56

confirmed that this should have instead

42:59

read lack of asphyxial signs.

43:01

Dr Cassidy said, quote, all

43:03

I can say is that had I not found features

43:06

of drowning, I would have had no hesitation

43:08

saying that this girl died from asphyxia

43:10

as a result of a fracture on the neck.

43:15

The Defence case opened on June 8th

43:17

and John McDonough took to the witness stand

43:20

himself. He said, quote,

43:22

I did not do it, I would not do it.

43:25

McDonough alleged that he spoke briefly

43:27

to a girl that he did not recognise on

43:30

the night that Siobhan died, that was

43:32

as far as it went.

43:33

He denied recognising her from another

43:35

occasion when she was with a different youth in a car

43:38

owned by McDonough. According

43:40

to the accused, there were, quote, many

43:42

girls in his cars over the years. Questioned

43:45

by Mr Von Buckley on whether he thought

43:47

he was particularly attractive to girls,

43:50

McDonough responded, quote, not that

43:52

I'm attractive to girls, but I know a lot of girls

43:55

and they know me and many girls come up to

43:57

talk to me that I don't know.

43:59

He denied telling a friend he had gone home to

44:01

sleep after the incident at Oostan on

44:03

Dolin before returning to the village because

44:05

he couldn't sleep.

44:07

He also denied that he had an oval-shaped mark

44:09

on his arm the day after the killing and said he

44:11

couldn't remember his friend drawing attention

44:13

to it in the pub that day either.

44:16

McDonough also refuted evidence given

44:18

by one of the witnesses who said he saw him driving

44:21

his red mondeo up a road from

44:23

the direction of Tishmond Beach and his family

44:25

home in the early hours of December

44:27

6th. Throughout

44:29

the trial, the prosecution had called a number

44:32

of civilian witnesses who all said

44:34

that they did not see McDonough between half

44:36

past 12 and 2am.

44:38

However, in his evidence to his defence

44:40

counsel, Mr Barry White, McDonough

44:42

said that he sat in his car for a while and also

44:45

walked around the village, but that he did

44:47

not meet anyone he knew until later in the

44:49

night.

44:50

When cross-examined about the forensic evidence

44:53

and fibres found on his white jumper, McDonough

44:56

contended that he had clothes of a similar type

44:58

to Chavannes, as did his sisters and

45:00

brothers. The wine-coloured fibres,

45:03

he said, were like maroon, which was the Galway

45:05

County colour. Quote, That's the year

45:07

Galway won the All Ireland and many people

45:09

would have had jumpers of that colour. When

45:12

it was put to him about the fibres that matched his

45:14

car seat covers that were found on Chavannes

45:16

clothing, he had a similar defence. Many

45:19

people in the locality had those same covers

45:21

he claimed. In fact, the man who had found

45:23

Chavannes body had them, and McDonough suggested

45:26

that perhaps the man could have contaminated her

45:28

body with the fibres. Of the incident

45:30

outside the hotel, when he assaulted his ex-partner

45:33

and her new boyfriend, McDonough said

45:35

quote, It should not have happened. I was

45:37

embarrassed about doing it. He

45:40

said that his statements made by him in the course

45:42

of his Garda interviews were taken out of context,

45:45

especially his comment that it was quote,

45:47

never meant to happen, which McDonough

45:49

claimed he said in relation to the assault

45:51

on his ex-partner and not the rape

45:53

and murder of Chavannes. He also

45:55

said that Garda did not take a full note

45:58

of his replies. When asked

46:00

why he produced the striped Adidas

46:02

top to Garde rather than the white V-neck

46:05

jumper, when they asked him for the clothes he had been

46:07

wearing on the night of the killing, McDonough

46:09

said that Garde had asked for a top,

46:12

and not anything in particular.

46:14

McDonough admitted that he changed his

46:16

jumper earlier in the night, but said

46:18

that this was because it had a tear in it, and

46:21

he didn't want to get it damaged any more than it

46:23

already was.

46:24

McDonough told the court that between half

46:27

past twelve and half past two, he'd sat

46:29

in his car for a while, and also walked

46:31

around to a number of places in the village.

46:34

John McDonough's evidence concluded on

46:36

the evening of Friday the 8th of June, and

46:39

when the trial resumed the following Monday,

46:41

the jury heard that one of the two rape

46:43

counts was withdrawn, after

46:45

Mr Justice Patrick Smith heard legal

46:48

submissions from the defence that there was insufficient

46:50

evidence to support it. The remaining

46:53

rape count, that of rape with

46:55

an object, remained for the jury

46:57

to decide.

46:59

The final witness for the defence was a

47:01

local woman named Peggy McDonough,

47:03

who worked for a local Hackney cab office.

47:06

She claimed she had seen Siobhan Hines

47:08

between a quarter to two and two am

47:11

on the night of her murder, but Peggy later

47:13

admitted that she was unsure of the sighting.

47:17

Then Mr Barry White gave his closing

47:19

speech on behalf of his client, saying

47:21

quote, This was not a murder inquiry,

47:24

this was a witch hunt against my client.

47:26

However, in the prosecution's

47:28

closing speech, Dennis Von Buckley said

47:30

that the evidence given by the accused himself

47:33

from the witness stand supported the prosecution's

47:35

case. Mr Von Buckley also

47:38

asked the jury to ignore the testimony

47:40

of Peggy McDonough, because she was

47:42

contradicted by several civilian witnesses,

47:44

and had admitted that she was unsure of the sighting

47:47

herself. There was an abundance

47:49

of circumstantial evidence in the case, he said.

47:52

He referred to the fact that McDonough had knowingly

47:54

handed in the wrong jumper to Gardee and

47:56

pointed to the forensic evidence linking

47:59

him to Siobhan Hines.

47:59

Hines by fibres found on her

48:02

clothing and in his car.

48:04

The jury deliberated for eleven hours

48:06

before returning unanimous verdicts

48:08

of guilty of murder and guilty

48:11

of rape with an object.

48:12

As cries of yes echoed from the supporters

48:15

of the Hines family, John McDonough

48:17

threw his arms out shouting quote, oh

48:19

for fuck's sake I didn't do it.

48:21

His sisters sobbed and his mother embraced

48:24

him.

48:25

Mr Justice Smith then handed down

48:27

the sentence saying quote, in

48:29

relation to murder I am obliged under

48:32

statute to impose a sentence of life

48:34

imprisonment and I do that now.

48:37

At this McDonough lowered his head to

48:39

the courtroom bench.

48:41

His family surrounded him as he sat crying

48:43

for several minutes before he shouted quote,

48:45

Jesus Christ how the fuck could they find

48:47

me guilty while thumping his fist

48:50

off the top of the bench.

48:52

His mother Maggie McDonough reeled

48:54

around the courtroom in a state of near collapse.

48:56

Mr Justice Smith adjourned the

48:59

court for five minutes to allow the crowd to

49:01

regain its composure.

49:03

Sentencing for the rape charge and leave

49:05

to appeal were held over until the 23rd

49:08

of July.

49:09

Speaking after the life sentence was handed

49:12

down, Andy Hines said quote, it's

49:14

just but we'll never get Siobhan back.

49:17

The McDonoughs, they will get their son back someday.

49:20

I'd like people to remember that.

49:23

Two days into his sentence John McDonough

49:25

received minor wounds to his neck and forearm

49:28

in a knife attack in Wheatfield prison when

49:30

he was set upon with a blunt makeshift knife.

49:33

A spokesperson for the prison service

49:35

said that prison officers had intervened

49:37

and broken the incident up and that medical

49:40

officers had attended to McDonough but

49:42

no treatment was required as the cuts were

49:44

superficial.

49:46

McDonough was transferred to a secure

49:48

section of Mount Joy prison following

49:50

the attack for quote, operational

49:52

reasons, while an investigation

49:54

into the incident was carried out.

49:58

On the 16th of July,

49:59

and won McDonough lodged documents with

50:02

the Court of Criminal Appeal against his

50:04

murder conviction.

50:05

Just over a week later, on the 23rd

50:08

of July, he was sentenced to 10 years

50:10

for the rape of Siobhan.

50:12

Mr. Justice Smith ruled that the sentence

50:14

was to run concurrently with his sentence

50:16

of life imprisonment for her murder.

50:20

On July 31st, a letter to

50:22

the editor written by Andy Hines

50:24

was printed in the Irish Independent.

50:26

It read in part, quote,

50:28

I would be obliged if you will allow me a little

50:31

space in your newspaper to express my

50:33

family's grave disappointment at

50:35

the sentence handed down to John McDonough

50:37

for the brutal rape of my daughter last Monday

50:39

week. As you probably know, McDonough

50:41

was convicted and sentenced for her murder on

50:44

June 17th, and it is very painful

50:46

for us to learn that this evil person will

50:48

not serve an extra day for that horrendous

50:51

crime. In my opinion, concurrent

50:53

sentences should be questioned. McDonough

50:56

sentenced my daughter to eternity. He

50:58

sentenced

50:58

me and my family for as long

51:00

as we live, while he is sentenced

51:03

for only a few years.

51:06

John McDonough's appeal was rejected after

51:08

a two-day hearing in 2007.

51:11

He has always maintained his innocence, and

51:13

in 2013 he launched a bid to have

51:16

samples that were taken during the investigation

51:18

re-examined.

51:19

The Irish Innocence Project had McDonough's

51:21

case looked at by scientists in the US,

51:24

and in judicial review proceedings

51:27

against the Garda commissioner and the state, McDonough

51:29

argued that the Gard's refusal to permit

51:32

his experts to access the forensic material

51:34

was contrary to natural justice and

51:36

fair procedures.

51:38

He claimed that it breached his rights under

51:40

the constitution and the European Convention

51:43

on Human Rights, including access

51:45

to the courts.

51:46

However, his claims were denied. In 2018,

51:49

a documentary series

51:51

aired on Tijikahar about grief called

51:54

Tukt-Namahir.

51:56

During an episode featuring Siobhan's death,

51:58

her mother, Briege,

51:59

her love for her daughter and how she believes

52:02

that McDonagh should never be released.

52:04

Breed described one childhood incident

52:07

where Siobhan had found a mouse in the kitchen. Her

52:09

mother went to get the cat but on seeing

52:12

how scared the mouse was, Siobhan

52:14

wanted to let it go. Her mother

52:16

said that they could let the mouse escape if

52:18

Siobhan promised not to tell anybody. Breed

52:21

later compared the situation to how her

52:23

daughter died saying, quote, I

52:26

often compare the things that happened to her

52:28

with the mercy she showed the mouse that

52:30

night.

52:31

She was in the mouse's position a while later

52:33

and she wasn't shown any mercy.

52:37

Thank you

52:38

for listening to Mens Rhea, a true crime

52:40

podcast. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter

52:42

and Instagram at MensRheaPod or

52:45

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52:47

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52:49

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52:51

donations by supporters on Patreon. Special

52:54

thanks to Samantha Rivera, Mark Cheshire,

52:57

Deirdre Dooley, Betty Donovan, Jill

52:59

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53:02

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check it out at patreon.com forward slash

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mensreahpod. Our theme music

53:09

is Quinn's Song The Dance Begins by Kevin

53:11

MacLeod. Additional music is by

53:13

Juanita Meisel and Kevin MacLeod. This

53:16

week's episode was researched and written by

53:18

the one and only Aileen Spearon. Additional

53:21

writing and production was by me, your

53:23

host Sinead. All sources for today's

53:25

episode can be found in the show notes or

53:28

on our website, www.mensreahpod.com.

53:33

And so, till next time, don't

53:36

do anything I wouldn't do. So

54:30

Óstanandilin

54:32

Óstanandolin