Anna Marie Pezzillo and Rachel Comiskey await sentence for manslaughter

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Anna Marie Pezzillo and Rachel Comiskey pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to the manslaughter of Ian Quinn. The offence concerned his death at Annally Grove, Ongar, Dublin 15, between 30 and 31 May 2014.

The State accepted their pleas on 5 March 2018. Justice Patrick McCarthy heard their sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court on 16 April 2018. The proceedings were reported on 16 April 2018.

The report said Pezzillo admitted her role in the killing in a Sunday World interview and later accepted that the account was largely true, although she felt some of it was exaggerated. She said she intervened because she thought Quinn was going to hit Comiskey, and was struck in the face. She said the women put two bags over his head for just a few seconds and did not intend to kill him.

Comiskey told gardaí she had made holes in a bag to allow Quinn to breathe. Both women maintained that they had intended to frighten him, not kill him. State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy stated that the cause of death was undetermined, the court heard.

Justice McCarthy remanded both women in custody until 14 May 2018, when he was due to deliver their sentences.