Most sensational Irish trials...

...programme on the Crime channel on the murder of Rachel O'Reilly in Naul got myself and my wife talking.

It seems that sometimes a crime draws sensational coverage and gets the whole country talking. Sometimes it's hard to figure why exactly when similar cases are almost overlooked, sometimes one can see why such as the lurid detail in the Graham Dwyer case.

So what were the cases that most gripped the public?

AnonoBoy

Malcolm MacArthur case was a big one.

The_Valeyard

[Deleted User] wrote: »

...programme on the Crime channel on the murder of Rachel O'Reilly in Naul got myself and my wife talking.

It seems that sometimes a crime draws sensational coverage and gets the whole country talking. Sometimes it's hard to figure why exactly when similar cases are almost overlooked, sometimes one can see why such as the lurid detail in the Graham Dwyer case.

So what were the cases that most gripped the public?

Probably the graham dwyer murder trial and trial of Joe O Reilly

Hande hoche!

Padraig Nally.

The Black Widow - Catherine Nevin, found guilty of murder and soliciting others to murder her husband Tom Nevin in Jack Whites bar in Wicklow...

http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0411/6465-nevin/

Collie D

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The Black Widow - Catherine Nevin, found guilty of murder and soliciting others to murder her husband Tom Nevin in Jack Whites bar in Wicklow...

http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0411/6465-nevin/

Similar case a couple of years ago..not sure if it got same mass appeal but definitely caught my attention was the "Lying Eyes" one

http://m.independent.ie/woman/the-legend-of-lying-eyes-26638561.html

tayto lover

The Rose Moran murder case enthralled people from both sides of the border --

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/court-told-affair-led-to-murder-1.122868

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/wife-knifed-37-times-in-alleged-hit-26198154.html

Baggy Trousers

The Arms Trials, 1970.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-idiots-guide-to-the-arms-trial-26248478.html

Capt'n Midnight

There were some sheepdog trials last summer in Wicklow.


















They were all hung :eek:

Sweetemotion

The scissor sisters.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/scissor-sister-charlotte-mulhall-confessions-2033680

Roadtoad

The Maamrasna murders. Good book about it too.
Five murdered, then three executed.

Lying Eyes and the Scissors Sister were pretty sensational alright.

Maamtrasna has a place in Irish history.

The Kerry Babies case was another sensational one. The tragedy is that, in all the bungling and the villification of the Hayes family, a baby who was washed up in South Kerry remains unidentified and no one will ever know what happened.

fryup

Oscar Wilde for sodomy, with Edward Carson as the chief prosecuting barrister

maudgonner

Roadtoad wrote: »

The Maamrasna murders. Good book about it too.
Five murdered, then three executed.

It's still a taboo topic in the area, over a hundred years later.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Dougal: Didn't you once say Jack had a trial with Liverpool.
Ted: No he was on trial in Liverpool

Wasn't there some boy killed in Cork by his neighbour about 10 years ago? Robert something?

XR3i

garlic man

foxy farmer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Wasn't there some boy killed in Cork by his neighbour about 10 years ago? Robert something?

Robert Holohan killed by Wayne o Donoghue. In 2005.

foxy farmer

foxy farmer wrote: »

Robert Holohan killed by Wayne o Donoghue. In 2005.

I'm not one to criticise Judges..but that sentence did surprise me...

osarusan

Brendan O'Donnell trial.

foxy farmer

The Kerry Babies case in 1985.

Arghus

I think the Graham Dwyer case was the one where I felt the media was going most into complete feeding frenzy mode.

Some of these other trials people have mentioned, like The Kerry babies or Malcom McArthur, may have seemed quite shocking in more innocent times. But these were from eras where people got their news in smaller, less hyperbolic doses. The Dwyer trial was the first massive trial in Ireland of this new era, where information and "news" is everywhere, not just on newspapers, TV, Radio, or on Computer screens but also on our constant smartphone companions that we take with us everywhere and barely remove from our faces.

The trial was inescapable. Endless days of the media pouring over lurid details. The fact that so much of it involved sex and what went on behind closed doors, with people you wouldn't exactly have expected it from, made it all a pretty explosive package of sensational awfulness.

Yamanoto

The 1964 trial of Shan Mohangi (a South African medical student attending RCSI), who strangled and dismembered his 16-year-old girlfiend, Hazel Mullen, and attempted to incinerate her remains in the Green Tureen restaurant on Harcourt Street.

Having seen his death sentence reduced to manslaughter & serving a paltry four years of a seven year sentence, he changed his name and returned to Durban after his release & ran for political office, though he was outed for his crime & withdrew his candidacy.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/shan-mohangi-s-dublin-past-comes-back-to-haunt-him-1.729751

donvito99

Joe O'Reilly.

My father's proudest moment is saying, "he dunnit" when O'Reilly appeared on the Late Late.

Arghus

donvito99 wrote: »

Joe O'Reilly.

My father's proudest moment is saying, "he dunnit" when O'Reilly appeared on the Late Late.

I remember having that same feeling at the time. He just seemed far too calm for a man whose wife had just been brutally murdered, but I put it down to my crazy suspicious mind.

foggy_lad

One that didn't recieve the same media coverage as details are not allowed to be released but which shook at the very core of people's homes and families was the Athlone rape case where a man lured two girls six and nine from a birthday party and subjected them to horrific assaults and rape.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/man-who-raped-girls-in-athlone-gets-two-life-sentences-1.1711509

Sentencing the man yesterday to life, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he found it too upsetting to recite the facts of the case.

“A feature of this case was to observe the faces of the hard-boiled press corps having difficulty listening to the facts emerging.”

He said it was too serious a case for any discount in sentence to come from the defendant’s co-operation with gardaí after his arrest or from his early plea of guilty.

Arghus

foggy_lad wrote: »

One that didn't recieve the same media coverage as details are not allowed to be released but which shook at the very core of people's homes and families was the Athlone rape case where a man lured two girls six and nine from a birthday party and subjected them to horrific assaults and rape.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/man-who-raped-girls-in-athlone-gets-two-life-sentences-1.1711509

That's a very disturbing case, I remember it being mentioned in the media. Have to say that I'm glad some of the details weren't made public.

I still think the Dwyer case takes the biscuit. It was properly sensational: the level of interest was immense and widespread and the media was churning away non-stop to cover it.

Pat Mustard

Not criminal trials but civil trials neverthless.

The Ian Bailey defamation actions, where he lost against several newspapers and the recent civil action against the State, which he also lost.

The evidence of Marie Farrell contained stuff like this:

She said they (Gardai) told her Mr Bailey would howl at the moon and had sat in a rocking chair on Barleycove beach with ten lesbians dancing around him. She believed what the gardai told her, she said.

foggy_lad

The whole Liam lawlor trials and his subsequent prison sentences for not naming who he received corrupt payments from were quite sensational as one of the first times a TD was locked up. He was even released for a few hours from mountjoy on one of his stays to fight his corner in the Mail.

Then his unfortunate death in Moscow created even more sensation.

seamus

Yamanoto wrote: »

The 1964 trial of Shan Mohangi (a South African medical student attending RCSI), who strangled and dismembered his 16-year-old girlfiend, Hazel Mullen, and attempted to incinerate her remains in the Green Tureen restaurant on Harcourt Street.

Having seen his death sentence reduced to manslaughter & serving a paltry four years of a seven year sentence, he changed his name and returned to Durban after his release & ran for political office, though he was outed for his crime & withdrew his candidacy.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/shan-mohangi-s-dublin-past-comes-back-to-haunt-him-1.729751

This I was going to post, my Dad would still mention it from time to time.

One feature about the case was the fact that he was black (though looking at old pictures, he's more Middle Eastern than African). Apparently there was some mild hysteria from the likes of old women about black men climbing into bedrooms and murdering you in your sleep, talking about the whole country going to pot.
Because he was only sentenced to seven years and would be extraordinarily distinctive, the government thought it wouldn't be possible to have him walking the streets again - believing there would either be a public panic wherever he went, or he would end up dead down an alleyway.

So they sent him home.

Omackeral

The killing of Brian Murphy at Annabel's nightclub was pretty big. All the defendants were privileged types and dubbed the Blackrock Bootboys.

I can't remember the location but that awful tragedy where a young man took the life of his two younger brothers before taking his own. The media coverage was intrusive at times. It was a heartbreaking case.

Also the Eamon Lillis trial. I was fascinated by it. It reminded me how we never know what goes on behind closed doors.

Omackeral

Was the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case mentioned? If not, I'd like to mention the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case.

Also the missing women in the so-called Leinster Triangle where Larry Murphy was a chief suspect. Murphy was the equivenlant of the Boogieman in Irish media for years.

Brendan O Donnell for killing Imelda Riney her baby son & the parish priest back in 1994, very chilling case

dirkmeister

Deleted User wrote: »

I can't remember the location but that awful tragedy where a young man took the life of his two younger brothers before taking his own. The media coverage was intrusive at times. It was a heartbreaking case.

I think that was in Charleville.

Horrible for the family.

Capt'n Midnight

George Best's trial for Man Utd. was probably sensational

Gyalist

seamus wrote: »

This I was going to post, my Dad would still mention it from time to time.

One feature about the case was the fact that he was black (though looking at old pictures, he's more Middle Eastern than African). Apparently there was some mild hysteria from the likes of old women about black men climbing into bedrooms and murdering you in your sleep, talking about the whole country going to pot.

Shan Mohangi is of Indian descent.

Roadtoad

Roadtoad wrote: »

The Maamtrasna murders. Good book about it too.
Five murdered, then three executed.

So there's a presidential pardon coming, from Republic of Ireland, though the trial was in a Crown court in 1882.

https://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2018/0328/950781-mam-trasna-murders/

(not to dig up old threads which gets up the Mods' noses......)

LETHAL LADY

I wouldn't call it a sensational trial but the murder of Brian Mulvaney by Brian Willoughby is a case I'll always remember.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/life-sentence-for-beating-man-to-death-1.354354%3fmode=amp#ampshare=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/life-sentence-for-beating-man-to-death-1.354354

TheValeyard

Wow, we have an awful lot of horrible crime stories in this country!

Some are fascinating though.

pleas advice

Deleted User wrote: »

...programme on the Crime channel on the murder of Rachel O'Reilly ...

so who's going to do Countdown now?

Donald Trump

Roger Casement

Or that family of Gaelgoirs who were set up and hanged in a court where only English was used.

Donald Trump

pleas advice wrote: »

so who's going to do Countdown now?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Rachel Riley. My number two on my "dying to bang" list

And number one is IT !

diomed

Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep

Who frightened Chris the sheep with rumours about a sheep-eating beast?
Chris was a sheep who has won the King of the Sheep competition several times and was considered a sure thing.
Father Ted exposes the culprit, Fargo Boyle, before the sheep judging judges.

baylah17

Harry Gleeson.
Framed by the Gardai for a murder he didnt commit and hanged, all because someone had to be convicted and he was protestant!
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/harry-gleeson-granted-pardon-over-1941-murder-1.2472693

For Forks Sake

foggy_lad wrote: »

The whole Liam lawlor trials and his subsequent prison sentences for not naming who he received corrupt payments from were quite sensational as one of the first times a TD was locked up. He was even released for a few hours from mountjoy on one of his stays to fight his corner in the Mail.

Then his unfortunate death in Moscow created even more sensation.

Most of which was fabricated by the Sunday Independent

Conall Cernach

The Invincibles killings of Cavendish and Burke in the Phoenix Park in 1882 was a media sensation. Somewhat typically James Carey, who was the leader, planned the attack and supplied the knives, turned informer and grassed up the rest of them. Because of all the newspaper coverage he was recognised when he tried to escape to South Africa and assassinated.

http://www.theirishstory.com/2012/07/31/the-invincibles-and-the-phoenix-park-killings-2/

Roadtoad

Roadtoad wrote: »

So there's a presidential pardon coming, from Republic of Ireland, though the trial was in a Crown court in 1882.

https://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2018/0328/950781-mam-trasna-murders/

(not to dig up old threads which gets up the Mods' noses......)

Was going to post this, too, having heard a very moving interview on Morning Ireland this morning with Seán Ó Cuirreáin, the author of Éagóir who has examined the murders and trials in detail.

Morning Ireland: Seán Ó Cuirreáin discussing the Maamtrasna murders

Ó Cuirreáin said that some €160,000 in today's money was given by the British government to "witnesses" to give testimony that would ensure convictions. He pointed out that the British viewed it all as part of the Land War and wanted to teach a lesson.

Maolra Seoighe

A documentary has been made based on Ó Cuirreáin's above book, and it will be shown on TG4 presently. There's now loads of stuff online about this case - and it's yet another instance of why the death penalty is wrong. This is a very informative article by Lorna Siggins in The Irish Times that's well worth reading:

A wrongful hanging in Connemara, 1882: Three Irish speakers were condemned to death – in a language they did not understand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAfntAh5BTo

wakka12

Arghus wrote: »

I think the Graham Dwyer case was the one where I felt the media was going most into complete feeding frenzy mode.

Some of these other trials people have mentioned, like The Kerry babies or Malcom McArthur, may have seemed quite shocking in more innocent times. But these were from eras where people got their news in smaller, less hyperbolic doses. The Dwyer trial was the first massive trial in Ireland of this new era, where information and "news" is everywhere, not just on newspapers, TV, Radio, or on Computer screens but also on our constant smartphone companions that we take with us everywhere and barely remove from our faces.

The trial was inescapable. Endless days of the media pouring over lurid details. The fact that so much of it involved sex and what went on behind closed doors, with people you wouldn't exactly have expected it from, made it all a pretty explosive package of sensational awfulness.

Yep, throw in the 'leafy suburb' of south dublin bit the media so love and they've got themselves a winner

Yamanoto

Yamanoto wrote: »

The 1964 trial of Shan Mohangi (a South African medical student attending RCSI), who strangled and dismembered his 16-year-old girlfiend, Hazel Mullen, and attempted to incinerate her remains in the Green Tureen restaurant on Harcourt Street.

Having seen his death sentence reduced to manslaughter & serving a paltry four years of a seven year sentence, he changed his name and returned to Durban after his release & ran for political office, though he was outed for his crime & withdrew his candidacy.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/shan-mohangi-s-dublin-past-comes-back-to-haunt-him-1.729751

Jesus. And some people in After Hours say sentences are lenient now? 4 years in an Irish prison for murdering, chopping up and attempting to burn a 16-year-old girl's body in the restaurant's oven.

Mr Mohangi had changed his name to Narentuk Jumuna following his deportation from Ireland after serving four years of a seven-year sentence for the gruesome manslaughter of his 16-year-old girlfriend and co-worker in the Green Tureen restaurant in Harcourt Street where he worked as a part-time chef.... The sensational 1964 court case that followed Hazel Mullen’s death had shocked Ireland. At the time Mohangi was a medical student at the Royal College of Surgeons. He strangled Ms Mullen in a jealous rage, then dismembered her body and tried to incinerate her remains in the oven of the Green Tureen.

The 22-year-old was interrupted by people living in the building who became suspicious of the smoke coming from the kitchen.

Having originally been sentenced to death for murder, his conviction was reduced to manslaughter and the sentence to seven years following an appeal.

.......

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