Court archive
Court reports mentioning Inishannon, Cork
2024-05-13 · Cork
Gearoid Coughlan, diagnosed with schizophrenia, beat and repeatedly stabbed his mother Mary Coughlan, leaving her with catastrophic, life‑long injuries. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder on 4 June 2021 and was sentenced by the Central Criminal Court to ten years' imprisonment, followed by six years of supervision by probation and psychiatric services. The judge noted Gearoid's high risk of reoffending, lack of insight into his illness, and history of aggression. Mary Coughlan, aged 32, criticised Ireland's community mental‑health services as inadequate for complex mental illness, arguing that better care might have prevented the assault. She expressed hope that families in similar situations receive timely help before it becomes too late. The case highlighted the challenges of managing severe schizophrenia in the community. The unnamed woman was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
2024-03-22 · Cork
At a sentencing hearing in the Central Criminal Court on 22 March 2024, Mary Coughlan, mother of 32‑year‑old Gearoid Coughlan, spoke about the assault she endured when her son, diagnosed with schizophrenia, tried to murder her on 4 June 2021. She described the violent attack, which left her with a 25‑cm neck wound, multiple facial wounds, a traumatic brain injury and ongoing speech and language therapy. Coughlan criticised the mental health system for failing to monitor her son's risk and medication adherence, arguing that people with paranoid schizophrenia are allowed to live in the community without adequate care. She said she would not let the assault define her life and has returned to singing, walking and spending time with grandchildren. Gearoid was arrested, sent to the Central Mental Hospital and is awaiting a psychiatric report before sentencing on 12 April. Gearoid Coughlan pleaded guilty and was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
2023-08-04 · Cork
In early summer 2023, Noel Long received a call from Detective Inspector Eamonn Brady about new evidence in the 1981 murder of Nora Sheehan. Long declined to meet with Gardaí or discuss the evidence, stating he wanted no involvement. The article recounts the 1981 discovery of Sheehan's body in Shippool Woods, describing the scene, the victim's injuries, and the forensic work that linked fibres and paint from Long's 1981 Opel Kadett to the victim. It details the 2008 DNA review that produced a partial male profile from a semen sample, later matched to DNA on a beanie hat taken from Long in 2021. The article also notes the defence's challenge to the reliability of the Low Copy Number DNA method and the State Pathologist's statement that Sheehan's cause of death was unascertained.
2023-08-01 · Cork
At the Central Criminal Court, prosecutors have submitted that forensic evidence in a cold case murder trial points inescapably to the guilt of the accused. Senior counsel Brendan Grehan closed the State's case against Noel Long, aged 74, of Maulbawn, Passage West, County Cork, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Nora Sheehan between 6 and 12 June 1981. Ms Sheehan's body was discovered at Shippool Woods, Cork, six days after she went missing. Mr Grehan told the jury that fibres from the victim's clothing and paint fragments matched those from the accused's Opel Kadett motor vehicle. A DNA profile recovered from semen found on the deceased matched that from a beanie hat belonging to Mr Long, with odds of one in 23,000 against it being unrelated. Defence counsel Michael Delaney SC argued the 42-year delay was unprecedented and that critical exhibits had been lost, preventing independent verification of the prosecution's forensic findings. The jury's verdict is now pending.
2023-07-18 · Cork
In the Central Criminal Court, Noel Long, aged 74, pleaded not guilty to the murder of 54‑year‑old Nora Sheehan, who disappeared between 6 and 12 June 1981. Sheehan's body was found six days later at The Viewing Point, Shippool Woods, Cork. Dr Timothy Creedon, a former forensic scientist, testified that he was on holiday in Inishannon, Co Cork, when the body was discovered. He later met a detective and received swabs from the body, including a vaginal swab that contained semen. Creedon created a microscopic slide from the swab, which was later archived. The slide's preservation became crucial when a 2008 review of cold cases examined the evidence with modern DNA techniques. The trial, presided over by Justice Paul McDermott, continues with a jury of seven men and four women. The case remains at the trial stage.
2023-07-14 · Cork
In the Central Criminal Court trial of Noel Long, retired Garda sergeant John B O'Sullivan, aged 83, recounted the discovery of a woman's body in Shippool Woods, Cork, on 12 June 1981. O'Sullivan was the sole Garda on duty at Inishannon station when forestry workers John Collins and Denis McSweeney arrived in a tractor at about 3 pm, reporting a suspicious find that turned out to be a body. He deputised his wife to accompany him to the scene, where they found a 54‑year‑old woman, later identified as Nora Sheehan, lying on her right side with her head covered by a blue floral dress. O'Sullivan noted a stench, blue bottles, a cut to the neck, a bandage on the left hand, and nylon tights on the left foot. He used a hurley to clear briars, avoided disturbing potential evidence, and later contacted Bandon Gardaí. Noel Long pleaded not guilty.
2023-07-13 · Cork
In a cold‑case murder trial, a jury heard evidence that a 74‑year‑old man, Noel Long, is alleged to have had sex with and murdered 54‑year‑old Nora Sheehan in 1981. The prosecution presented forensic DNA evidence linking semen recovered from Sheehan's vagina to Long's DNA, and trace evidence from Long's car that matched items found at the scene. Witnesses described Sheehan as a vulnerable, eccentric woman who was last seen alive on 6 June 1981 and whose naked, bruised body was discovered by forestry workers in Shippool Woods six days later. The State argued that the forensic findings and witness testimony together lead to an "irresistible conclusion" that Long committed the murder. Long has pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled to continue before Mr Justice Paul McDermott.
2015-06-11 · Cork
A man from Cork has had his sentence backdated following a successful appeal to the Court of Appeal. Nicky O'Driscoll, aged 37, of Killala Gardens, Knocknaheeny, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to burglary at Inishannon on 7 January 2014. He received a three-year sentence with the final six months suspended in May 2014. O'Driscoll appealed on the basis that the sentencing judge had been incorrectly informed of his previous convictions for burglary. Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan found the sentencing court had been told O'Driscoll had 20 previous burglary convictions when he in fact had eight among his 68 total convictions. The judge described this as a clear error in principle, though not attributable to fault on the part of the trial judge. The Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence but backdated it to 12 May 2014 to account for the misinformation. O'Driscoll was also required to enter into his own bond of €100 for 12 months.