The nephew of a 37-year-old woman whose body was discovered in a bog outside Athlone four years ago has said his "much loved" aunt was killed by a person who had placed "no value" on her life and had "no respect for the dignity of her body".
Peter McDonagh, nephew of Marie Greene read out a victim impact statement at the Central Criminal Court today on behalf of his grandmother Winnie, his mother Theresa and extended family.
In July 2015, retired member of the Defence Forces Jimmy Devaney, 67, of Millbrook Avenue, Monksland, Athlone was acquitted of murdering Ms Greene in Co Westmeath in 2011 but was found guilty of her manslaughter.
The father of three had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Ms Greene in Westmeath on February 13, 2011.
On 30 July this year, a jury of six women and five men returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
The court heard Ms Greene, who was working as a prostitute, was last seen alive on the evening on 13 February, 2011 and her body was discovered nine days later in Anagorta Bog outside Athlone.
State Pathologist Marie Cassidy said the deceased had suffered six stab wounds to the trunk. There were multiple incise wounds to the head and neck.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan had remanded Devaney in custody and adjourned sentencing until today.
Ms Justice Heneghan said there was a "large amount of material" she needed to consider from this morning and she would sentence Devaney on Monday 16 November at 11am.
Victim impact statement:
The nephew of the deceased today said for his family, 13 February 2011, was the beginning of a nightmare "that no family should have to live through".
Mr McDonagh told the court how on that evening, "our much loved Marie", was taken out to the bog, brutally killed, and her body thrown into a ditch.
"The person who killed her had placed no value on her life and no respect for the dignity of her body. The family's pain was further added to in the days before her body was recovered by the excellent work of the Gardai," read Mr McDonagh.
He said that as a family they will be forever grateful to the hundreds of people who took part in the search for Marie which was not easy in the depths of winter.
"There are no words that can describe the anguish that the family felt during the nine long days that Marie was missing until at last we were able to lay her to rest with the blessing of a proper funeral," he said.
Mr McDonagh told the court another impact that Marie's killing had on his family was when they were dealt a second heart-breaking blow by the death of Marie's brother John, 21 days after Marie.
"John who was the father of four young children had taken part in the frantic search for Marie, he simply could not cope with what had happened and the terrible state of her body when it was eventually found.
“While we know that John had cancer, everyone who knew him said the shock of Marie's death was a big factor in his untimely death," he said.
He also told the court that it was very upsetting for them as a family during the trial when Marie's character was "dragged through the courts" and "where she had no voice to defend herself" and how their family's private affairs were reported in the media for all to see.
"People who had never known Marie were quick to put a label on her without any regard for the feelings of her family who knew the real Marie and loved her just as she was," said Mr McDonagh.
He told the court as a family they feel such a loss at her death but she is missed most by her mother Winnie whose health has deteriorated even further in the past four years and now faces each day without "her loving carer".
"Marie had promised my granny that she would never leave her alone at night which was why Winnie became alarmed and knew something was wrong when she failed to come home that terrible night," he said.
The court heard no amount of grief can take away the knowledge that they will never see her face again, never get a phone call from her again, never share their joys and sorrows with her or celebrate the normal family occasions with her.
"When Winnie saw her in the coffin she said she could not recognise her beautiful 37-year-old daughter because she looked about a hundred years old," he said.
Mr McDonagh concluded by saying that as a family, they still do not know exactly what led up to that meeting on the bog that night because there were only two people involved and Marie's version of events will never be known "because the person who killed her silenced her voice forever".
"All the Greene family ask from this court, is justice for our beloved Marie and that the person who killed her in such a cruel and callous fashion, and expressed no remorse whatsoever, pays for this crime with an appropriate sentence," he said.
