A jury, latter which began deliberating last Tuesday afternoon, after a 15-week trial; today has found 50-year-old farmer Mr Patrick Quirke, from Breanshamore, in Co Tipperary guilty of murdering his love rival.
Mr Quirke had denied the murder of 52-year old Mr Bobby Ryan, a quarry worker and a part-time DJ known as “Mr Moonlight”. The jury delivered its verdict after 20 hours and 39 minutes of deliberation.
Today, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon offered her deepest condolences to the Ryan family before sentencing Mr Quirke to life in prison.
Mr Ryan had disappeared on June 3rd 2011, after he had left widow Mrs Mary Lowry’s farm earlier on that morning, however the prosecution could not give an exact time or location of the killing and had failed to identify a murder weapon. The individual pieces of evidence when put together, nevertheless, appeared to weave a logical series of strands which would eventually communicate, to the jury, the guilt of the accused man.
Mr Quirke had been best friends with Mrs Lowry’s late husband, Mr Martin Lowry, latter who died in September 2007, and the jury would learn that he was also best man at Mr Quirke’s own wedding. After Mr Martin Lowry death, Mr Quirke had offered to his widow, his support on the farm, with their friendship eventually developing into a closer relationship. Following this relationship ending, Mr Quirke continued to gain access to Mrs Lowry’s farm, under a seven-year lease agreement.
Mr Ryan’s decomposed body had been located stripped naked; left in a run-off tank, covered with a concrete slab; before being discovered by the said Mr Quirke himself in 2013. A post-mortem examination later showed Mr Ryan had died from blunt force trauma. He had suffered multiple fractures to his skull and to his ribs and leg. An entomologist (insect expert) gave evidence in court that the body, which had been sealed in an airtight tank, had been subjected to a single insect infestation in the weeks prior to the accused man, Mr Patrick Quirke, informing Gardaí, that he had discovered a body.
The defence had argued that the case against Mr Quirke was based on theory and not on any hard evidence; it was, they believed, forensically barren and the investigation itself was less than the highest standards required. The defence had warned the jury against conviction, based on what same held as mere circumstantial evidence.
After closing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon had urged the jurors to look on the evidence submitted in the case, with a critical mind.
The Jury found Mr Patrick Quirke guilty today of the murder Mr Ryan by a ten to two majority verdict, at the Central Criminal Court, Dublin.
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