Ruth Lawrence receives two life sentences for 2014 murders

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

Ruth Lawrence was sentenced to two concurrent life terms for murdering Eoin O’Connor and Anthony Keegan. The sentences were backdated to October 4, 2022, when she entered custody.

A Central Criminal Court jury found Lawrence guilty on November 12, 2025. It found she acted with her boyfriend, Neville van der Westhuizen, in O’Connor’s murder and was equally liable with him for Keegan’s murder. Van der Westhuizen is serving a 15-year sentence in South Africa; an application to return him to Ireland to face trial is to take place after that sentence ends.