Addict who staged talented musician's suicide has rest of sentence suspended

A woman from Sligo has had the remainder of her four-year prison sentence suspended by the Central Criminal Court following her conviction for impeding the prosecution of her brother. The defendant, who pleaded guilty to the offence in 2017, had already served twenty-eight months in custody. Mr Justice Michael White conditionally suspended the balance of her sentence on the basis that she reside at an approved address in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, with her father. The judge warned her that any breach would result in swift return to court proceedings. The defendant's brother was convicted of murder in November after a trial established that he fatally stabbed a musician at the victim's home in Sligo in August 2015. The defendant had assisted in staging the scene to obstruct the investigation. The judge noted her serious heroin addiction but acknowledged her guilty plea and cooperation with investigating gardaí during her detention as mitigating factors.