Two men have been jailed for life for the murder of another man whose skeletal remains were found in a gravel bag in a ravine in east Cork, five months after he went missing.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork had been told Kieran Quilligan was lured to a laneway near Cork city centre before he was ambushed and beaten to death.
Mr Quilligan was 47 years of age and was originally from Togher in Cork city.
He went missing from St Finbarr's Place in Cork on the evening of 1 September 2023.
Prosecuting Senior Counsel Donal O'Sullivan told the Central Criminal Court jury he had been lured to the laneway before he was ambushed.
The State's case was that 28-year-old Luke Taylor, originally from Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, in Cork, was the one who lured Mr Quilligan to the laneway.
Mr Quilligan was alleged to have stolen drugs and cash from a second man earlier in the day, 33-year-old Niall Long, originally from St Michael's Close in Mahon in Cork. Niall Long, it was alleged, ambushed him before he was beaten to death in retaliation for the earlier robbery.
Both men were convicted of Mr Quilligan's murder by a jury last week.
Their trial was told that gardaí undertook extensive searches for Mr Quilligan in east Cork, after CCTV tracked them travelling there immediately after he disappeared. His skeletal remains were found five months later by a cadaver dog, as part of a garda search.
A post-mortem examination was unable to identify a cause of death for Mr Quilligan. But pathologist Dr Margot Bolster established he had been attacked with a weapon like a hammer and suffered fractures to his skull, neck and jaw, his hand, his leg, his chest and his ribs.
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'Shocked and angry'
This afternoon Mr Quilligan's father, Stephen, said in a victim impact statement that his family were shocked and angry at the way their son died and the way Niall Long and Luke Taylor could "pretend like nothing happened".
"The anger and frustration was unbearable for our family," he said. "We want to thank the gardai who never gave up. They told us they would bring Kieran home and they did.
"Kieran was a loving son, brother and uncle. He is sadly missed by all of us and our lives will never be the same without him."
Mr Quilligan's mother, Catherine O'Flynn, said he was missed, loved and adored.
"If my love could have saved you, you would still be here with us," she said. "Our hearts were broken in a million pieces - our worst nightmare come true."
In her victim impact statement, Mr Quilligan's long-term partner, Colette O'Driscoll, described how they had been given the good news that they were to be housed together a short time before he disappeared.
"I have a heavy heart. I miss my best friend every day. I feel lonely without him," she said.
Sentencing both men to life in prison, Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said Mr Quilligan's life had been taken in most egregious circumstances.
She described the garda investigation as exemplary, and said Niall Long and Luke Taylor might never have been identified were it not for the huge volume of work on the case carried out by detectives.
Both men indicated to the court through their counsel that they intend to appeal.
