Father tells court of difficulty raising son accused of murder
The father of a man accused of murdering a Cavan women by stabbing her to death in her front garden has given evidence in the Central Criminal Court at Dublin telling the court his son was difficult and always different from his other children.
Brendan McGahern, 28, with an address at Corlismore in Co Cavan has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Amy Farrell at Glenlara, Cavan, on January 20, 2006, but guilty to her manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.
The Director of Public Prosecution has refused to accept his plea.
Brendan McGahern senior told Mr Alex Owens SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions his son was difficult.
“It was very difficult with Brendan as a result of his birth. He was never the same as the rest, he was always different.”
The family had tried to get help for McGahern he said but there was nothing.
He told the court there was probably help for him now but it was too late.
His son had been expelled from one school and had difficulties at others including being bullied and teased.
“As a parent you know there’s something wrong but it’s very hard to establish what it is,” he said.
His son had developed a drinking problem as he got older and he had gone into rehab.
“He went to rehab for a while but they couldn’t even manage him there, disrupting the classes and such. We had to take him out of there as well,” Mr McGahern Snr said.
McGahern had also been in trouble on the streets of Cavan he said.
“The Gardaí might fill you in on that my lord.”
McGahern had told him about a friend of his Brendan Kely being sent to prison for assaulting Amy Farrell and stealing two of her cars.
“He didn’t seem to say too much about it he’s a lad with very few words as I think we’ve established,” Mr McGahern Snr said.
He told defence counsel Mr David Kennedy SC his son could not read or write.
“I don’t think he can even tell the time.”
Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of eight men and four women have heard McGahern was an acquaintance of Miss Farrell along with a man called Brendan Kelly and others who called to her house at Glenlara Estate.
The court has heard during their investigation into Miss Farrell’s killing Garda suspected Kelly had a part to play in Miss Farrell’s demise.
Miss Farrell had given evidence against Kelly in the Virginia District Court the day before she was killed and McGahern had been at the court.
Kelly had been sentenced to 16 months in Castlerea Prison on charges including assaulting Miss Farrell and stealing two of her cars.
Detective Garda Kieran King produced mobile phone records to the court yesterday showing three calls from McGahern’s cell phone to a cell phone registering with a cell site at Castlerea, 25 minutes after Miss Farrell was killed.
The cell phone was registered to a Stephanie Cahill, Kelly’s girlfriend and when Gardai checked the number in McGahern’s phone it showed “Brendan” as the identifying name.
Mr Kennedy asked Mr King if during an interview of Kelly Gardaí had asked Kelly if he had told McGahern to kill Miss Farrell.
He agreed that may have been one of the questions but said his line of inquiry with Mr Kelly was investigating the phone calls.
“From looking at the print outs we could see that Brendan McGahern had been in touch with Brendan Kelly for three calls after the murder,” Mr King told the court.
