Accused's daughter tells court her father murdered schoolgirl
The youngest daughter of the man accused of murdering 14-year-old Melissa Mahon has told a jury that he murdered the schoolgirl.
The 16 year-old, who cannot be named, told Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that although she had given a number of different accounts to gardaí, she wanted to tell the truth, that "my Dad had murdered Melissa Mahon”.
Ronald McManus (aged 44), also known as Ronnie Dunbar, of Rathbraughan Park, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering the schoolgirl in September 2006. He also denies threatening to kill his daughter, Samantha Conroy.
The witness told the court that on the evening of the alleged murder she said to her father: “Don’t kill me if I am bad.”
She said that on September 20, 2006 she came home to find her father leaning over the back wall of their garden, into the house next door which they had recently moved out of. The court earlier heard that Melissa had been in care and was last seen by Health Service Executive employees on September 14.
The witness said she looked over the wall and saw Melissa kneeling with a key in her hand. She said she was angry with her father because he was not supposed to have Melissa in their house. She said Melissa had previously run away from home and stayed in their house for three weeks.
She said she told her father he would get into trouble but he told her to shut up. She said that later that evening Melissa was in their house when gardaí called looking for her but she ran out the back door and jumped over the wall.
The 16 year-old said that the next morning Melissa was in the accused's bed and was wearing a yellow ‘Beauty and the Beast’ night dress, black tracksuit bottoms and socks. Later in the day the witness walked into her father’s bedroom and found him lying on top of Melissa.
She said she asked her father what he was doing and he said: “Keeping her sweet.” She said Melissa laughed.
The witness said she was upset and went downstairs. Her sister Samantha came home and she said they both went to their father’s room. She said Melissa was lying on her side and the accused lying behind her with his arm around her neck. She said he told his daughters to get out.
She said Melissa was not moving or speaking and her eyes were closed. Her evidence was that her father then said that Melissa had threatened to go to the gardaí and had previously tried to kill him.
She testified that he got off the bed and took a tie from his bedside cabinet.
She said he put it around Melissa’s neck and asked her and Samantha to hold it.
She said she was scared and confused and thought they were faking it. She thought Melissa would wake up and laugh at her.
The witness said her father went to the bathroom then returned and placed a pillow over Melissa’s face. She said she and her sister had let go of the tie and were standing watching. She alleges that he told Samantha to get a sleeping bag which he then put Melissa’s body into head first. She claimed he asked them to help him.
She said he told her to check if anyone was outside and then put Melissa into the boot of his car. Her evidence was that he then drove, with her in the back seat and Samantha in the front, to an area beside the River Bonnet.
The accused’s youngest daughter said that he dragged Melissa’s body through the woods and asked Samantha to help him swing the sleeping bag into the river. She said he unzipped it first, took the tie from Melissa’s neck and tied the sleeping bag up with it.
She said they then drove back to Sligo and went to her father’s football training that evening. She said he told her that she was an accessory to murder and she believed him. That night she said she said to the accused: “Don’t kill me if I am bad.”
The witness said that in the early hours of a March morning in 2007 her father brought her back to the spot along the river where Melissa’s body had been dumped. She said he brought a rubber dinghy and a torch and was checking to see if the body had risen.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, the girl accepted that there were discrepancies between her account and Samantha’s. She said: “People perceive things differently.”
She said she had telephoned the accused’s sister last week but denied that she said Samantha had been lying in the witness box. She said she was aware of her sister’s evidence as she had been following the trial via newspaper reports.
She said: “Newspapers add things in and take things out, I should know.” Mr Grehan replied: “You’re quite right.”
She said she was sure the accused had put a tie around Melissa’s neck and was aware that Samantha had told the court that that had not happened. “We both see things different to one another” she said. “It happened, even though she says it didn’t.”
Mr Grehan had earlier on day 10 of the trial completed his cross-examination of 18 year-old Samantha Conroy. She denied his suggestions that the accused had not had an untoward relationship with Melissa and had no involvement in her killing. “He’s a liar... He’s trying to wiggle his way out,” she said.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six men and six women. It is expected to last for a further two to three weeks.
