On 25th September, 2001, 28 year old German tourist Bettina Poeschel took a train from Dublin to Drogheda, Co Louth. She wanted to visit Newgrange – an ancient monument in the Meath countryside. She decided to make the 10km walk from the town to take in the countryside while there.
But Bettina never made it to Newgrange.
She had disappeared into thin air.
Continue reading “107 – The Day Trip: Bettina Poeschel”In August of 2005, 23 year old Ann Walsh was found dead in the grounds of the parish church in Kilrush, Co Clare. Gardai made an arrest shortly after the discovery – Raymond Donovan, Ann’s former boyfriend.
Donovan admitted to gardai that he had killed Ann, but denied her murder. Would the jury agree?
Continue reading “106 – Unintended: The murder of Ann Walsh”In July of 1993, 17 year old Tracy Butler was set upon and stabbed to death while walking home in what appeared to be a random act of violence. But as gardai began investigating the case, they began unravelling a complicated web of relationships – ones which had turned sour.
Continue reading “105 – Vendetta: The murder of Tracy Butler”57 year old Rose Farrelly was found dead in her own home on the morning of the 15th February 1993. It appeared that the house had been broken into, and then the single woman had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
The trial for Rose’s murder was the first in Ireland to use DNA evidence.But the reason for Rose’s murder remains unclear – it appears the answer may be the most frightening of all.
He did it because he could.
Continue reading “104 – Brazen: The murder of Rose Farrelly”On Christmas morning, 2008, 81 year old widow Maire Rankin was not answering the phone. Family members called around to her Newry home to check on her – not only had she been recently ill but it was totally out of character for her to not respond.
When they arrived at the house on the Dublin Road, Maire was found dead on her bedroom floor. The house was a mess, and it appeared that Mrs Rankin had been subjected to a violent assault of a sexual nature.
No one expected it when Maire’s 42 year old neighbour was arrested. Not only was Karen Walsh a woman, she was a wealthy pharmacist who stayed in her second home in Newry on the weekends.
What on earth had happened, and was the mother of one really responsible for the death of the elderly woman?
Continue reading “103 – A killing at Christmas: The murder of Maire Rankin”In 2004, 41 year old mother of 6, Colleen Mulder was found dead in her bed. Quickly, her husband Anton was arrested. Was Anton being abused? Or was he suffering from a mental disorder?
It would take 4 years of court proceedings to decide.
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Theme Music:
Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Sources:
DPP v Mulder [2007] IECCA 63
DPP v Mulder [2009] IECCA 45
“Man charged after wife’s death” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-charged-after-wifes-death-26227785.html (19 December 2004)
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“Husband charged over wife’s death” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/husband-charged-over-wifes-death-25889477.html (20 December 2004)
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Aodhan O’Faolain, “Wife had sex twice with me, says witness” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/wife-had-sex-twice-with-me-says-witness-26383043.html (5 May 2006)
“Trial hears accused intended to kill wife” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/trial-hears-accused-intended-to-kill-wife-1.781740 (5 May 2006)
“Accused spoke of taking cash to South Africa, court hears” in The Irish Times (5 May 2006) p. 4.
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“Judge Bars two from court in Mulder trial” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/judge-bars-two-from-court-in-mulder-trial-1.999362(6 May 2006)
Aodhan O’Faolain, “Murder accused’s children ‘never saw him hit mother’” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/murder-accuseds-children-never-saw-him-hit-mother-26383629.html (9 May 2006)
“Verdict pending in murder trial” in The Irish Times(10 May 2006) p. 9.
Anne-Marie Walsh and Sarah Stack “Family sheds tears of relief as husband is jailed for killing wife” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/family-sheds-tears-of-relief-as-husband-is-jailed-for-killing-wife-26383997.html (11 May 2006)
‘Husband given life sentence for wife’s murder” in The Irish Times (11 May 2006) p. 4
“Mulder family satisfied justice has been done so they can try to move on” in The Irish Times (11 May 2006) p. 4
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“South African man on trial accused of murdering wife” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/irish-news/south-african-man-on-trial-accused-of-murdering-wife-26344708.html (14 January 2008)
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Abigail Rieley, “Mum was afraid of my dad and never hit him, son tells court” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mum-was-afraid-of-my-dad-and-never-hit-him-son-tells-court-26345443.html (18 January 2008)
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Abigail Rieley, “Justice at last for family as wife-killer gets life” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/justice-at-last-for-family-as-wife-killer-gets-life-26347069.html (25 January 2008)
Louise Hogan and Abigail Rieley, “Two trials but there was only one verdict – guilty” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/two-trials-but-there-was-only-one-verdict-guilty-26347070.html (25 January 2008)
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“Decision reserved in murder appeal” in The Irish Times (1 April 2009) p. 4
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Conor Feehan, “’I have to live with this every day’ – man who murdered his wife as he’s released from prison” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/crime/i-have-to-live-with-this-every-day-man-who-murdered-his-wife-as-hes-released-from-prison-39259477.html (4 June 2020)
Ken Foy, “Free wife killer takes stroll in city sunshine” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/news/freed-wife-killer-takes-stroll-in-city-sunshine-39255645.html (3 May 2020)
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In early May, 1996 – three women were killed violently in their own homes in separate incidents across Ireland. It all occurred in the space of three days.
In fact, 1996 would go on to be the year with the most violent deaths of women in recent history.
There has been a lot of progress in relation to equal rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ in Ireland. However, despite decriminalisation in 1993, and the passage of Marriage Equality in 2015, there is still much to do. In addition to requiring effective hate speech legislation, the defence of provocation does allow a person accused of murder to claim that a romantic or sexual advance by an LGBTQ+ person resulted in a loss of control leading to the killing of that person.
In this episode, we explore cases where this partial defence was employed at trial and appeal: the killing of John Roche in 1982, the murder of Gerard Hackett in 2002, and the kidnap and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998.
Reasearch & Writing by Eileen MacFarlene of the Crimelapse Podcast
In 1980, 19 year old Deborah Robinson took a bus from her home in Belfast down to Dublin for the day. She never returned. Her body was found in ditch in rural Co. Kildare, and launched a huge murder investigation. It looked like the case might go cold after a year went by with no breaks in the case.
But some loose threads lead investigators to a new suspect.
Continue reading “99 – Loose Threads: The murder of Deborah Robinson”In 1988, Anne Gillespie was 18 years old. She was looking forward to embarking on adult life. There was just one problem – her boyfriend of over three years had begun to behave horribly. She decided to end things. Her boyfriend, 22 year old John Gallagher, decided that if Anne would no longer speak to him, he’d kill her.
John also shot Anne’s mother, Annie.
No one could have predicted it, nor could they have known about the 24 years the two families would spend in and out of court.
Continue reading “98 – A Question of Disorder: The murders of Anne & Annie Gillespie”