The mother of Jasmine McMonagle, who was beaten to death by her partner in her home in 2019, has told how she relives the killing and wonders if her daughter called out for her family before she died.
At a sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court today, Jasmine's mother Jacqueline McMonagle said that when it came to her daughter’s killer Richard Burke, "the only word that comes to mind is evil".
Ms McMonagle was 28 years old when she was found dead in the kitchen of her Donegal home following a three-hour standoff between Burke and gardaí.
Last month, 32-year-old Burke of Killygordon, Co Donegal, was found not guilty of the murder of Ms McMonagle on 4 January 2019, but guilty of her manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The unanimous verdict was returned by a jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Co Monaghan.
Reading from her statement today, Ms McMonagle said that 4 January 2019 was the day "my world fell apart", when Jasmine's life and future was "horrifically taken from her" by Burke.
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Ms McMonagle became emotional as she told the court the family had all been given a life sentence of suffering and pain and of missing someone so dearly, who they are never going to see again.
She said Jasmine was a "kind and generous" person who adored and lived for her two girls.
She told the court Jasmine had always loved spending time with her family and said Christmas was a special time for them but the holiday "means nothing to me anymore".
Now Jasmine’s daughters must spend Christmas without their mother, she said, and they now spend Christmas at her grave.
"I feel traumatised and I still have difficulty believing I will never see my daughter again," Ms McMonagle said.
"The pain I feel is indescribable. I do not feel like the person I once was, I had my daughter taken from me in the most horrific way."
The court also heard from Jasmine's daughter, who was eight years old when her mother was killed while she was in the house. She said Burke had "ruined our lives" and she and her little sister would "never get Mammy back".
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the young girl said: "I wish Mammy had never ever met him. He has ruined our lives and we can never get Mammy back".
Ms McMonagle’s daughter, who is now 12, added: "I miss my Mammy so much", and told how her mother’s loss was especially apparent around big occasions like Christmas and her birthday.
In his victim impact statement, the 12-year-old’s father said his child is in constant fear Richard Burke will escape justice and will come to kill her and her little sister.
"This animal has ruined my child’s life," he said.
He said since her mother’s brutal death, his daughter has had to move schools and the family decided to move away from the village where it happened. He added that she has lost touch with all her old friends and has become withdrawn.
Jasmine McMonagle’s sister Jenna, who has legal guardianship for her youngest daughter, told the court Jasmine had had her life "ripped away from her" in the most brutal and insidious way possible.
"I could call Richard Burke a monster or an animal but, quite frankly, that would be disrespectful to monsters and animals. Richard Burke is something else," she said.
She said the family are living a "never-ending nightmare" and her sister’s killing impacts every aspect of their lives. She said there is always one thing missing and that is Jasmine.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Sergeant Brendan McCann told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC that Burke has 23 previous convictions. The majority of those are district court convictions, he said, and include those for the possession of drugs, criminal damage, assault, various public order offences and possession of knives.
Mr Justice Paul Burns remanded Burke in custody for sentencing on 22 May.
