The mother of Jasmine McMonagle, who was brutally beaten to death by her “on and off” partner in her own home, has told how she relives the killing and wonders if her daughter called out for her family before she died.
In a separate victim impact statement, Jasmine's oldest daughter said that killer Richard Burke had tried to teach her mother Martial Arts, but what Jasmine really needed was defending from him.
At a sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday, the victim's mother Jacqueline McMonagle said that when it came to Burke, "the only word that comes to mind is evil".
Jasmine McMonagle (28) was found in a pool of blood in the kitchen of her home following a three-hour standoff between Burke and gardaí.
Burke (32), of Killygordon, Co Donegal, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms McMonagle at Forest Park, Killygordon on January 4th, 2019, but guilty to manslaughter.
Last month a Criminal Court trial sitting in Monaghan heard from two psychiatrists who both agreed that Burke was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing which substantially diminished his responsibility.
Evidence
The jury of seven women and five men had been told by Mr Justice Paul Burns that all the evidence in Burke's trial pointed to a manslaughter verdict and the jury took just over one hour to agree, in a unanimous decision.
Reading from her statement, Jacqueline said that January 4th, 2019, was the day “my world fell apart”, when Jasmine's life and future was “horrifically taken from her” by Burke.
Jasmine’s mother became emotional as she told the court the family had all been given a life sentence of suffering and pain and of missing someone so dearly who they are never going to see again. She said Jasmine was a “kind and generous” person who adored and lived for her two girls.
She told the court Jasmine had always loved spending time with her family and said Christmas was a special time for them but the holiday “means nothing to me any more”.
Now Jasmine’s daughter’s must spend Christmas without their mother, she said, and they now spend Christmas at her grave.
Ms McMonagle said she could not get the images out of her mind of what her daughter must have been going through the night she was killed.
“She was a small petite girl and I think about how powerless she must have felt and how I wasn’t there to help her.”
She said she goes “over and over” what happened and wonders if her daughter called out their names and how long she suffered before she died. The family waited four years for the trial and are all struggling to process the details of what Richard Burke did to her child, she said. “The only word that comes to mind is evil,” she added.
Richard Burke’s actions have left two young children without their mother and his actions are also the reason they have had to leave their home, she said.
Victim impact statement
“I feel traumatised, and I still have difficulty believing I will never see my daughter again,” Ms McMonagle said. “The pain I feel is indescribable. I do not feel like the person I once was, I had my daughter taken from me in the most horrific way.”
The court also heard from Ms McMonagle’s young daughter, who was just 8-years-old when her mother was brutally beaten and strangled to death while she was also in the house. She said Richard Burke had “ruined our lives” and she and her little sister would “never get Mammy back”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the young girl said: “I wish mammy had never ever met him. He has ruined our lives and we can never get Mammy back”.
Ms McMonagle’s daughter, who is now 12, added: “I miss my Mammy so much”, and told how her mother’s loss was especially apparent around big occasions like Christmas and her birthday.
She said she always thought Richard Burke was a bad person. He had tried to teach her mother martial arts, she said, but what she really needed was defending from him.
She said she suffers from nightmares and flashbacks about what happened and finds it hard that she doesn’t live with her little sister any more.
In his victim impact statement, the 12-year-old’s father said his child is in constant fear Richard Burke will escape justice and will come to murder her and her little sister.
“This animal has ruined my child’s life,” he said.
He said since her mother’s brutal death, his daughter has had to move schools and the family decided to move away from the village where it happened. He said she has lost touch with all her old friends and has become withdrawn.
While at school she has trouble talking to her friends about anything to do with mothers and even conversations about things children do with their mother’s, like trips to the cinema or going to the hairdressers, have become triggers for her.
He said his daughter “thinks the world” of her little sister and the fact that they now live not only in different houses but in different counties is very hard for her. He said she stays over with her every other weekend but the two girls are “heartbroken” when they have to leave each other.
'Neverending nightmare'
Ms McMonagle’s sister Jenna, who has legal guardianship for Ms McMonagle’s youngest daughter, told the court Jasmine had had her life “ripped away from her” in the most brutal and insidious way possible.
“I could call Richard Burke a monster or an animal but quite frankly that would be disrespectful to monsters and animals. Richard Burke is something else,” she said.
In her victim impact statement, she said the family are living a “neverending nightmare” and her sister’s killing impacts every aspect of their lives. She said there is always one thing missing and that is Jasmine.
“We thought our existence was a happy one. Never did we think we would have to face this sickening loss of grief and utter destruction,” she said. “I knew as soon as I found out Jasmine had been killed our lives had been changed forever.”
Jenna McMonagle told the court she was eight months pregnant on the morning gardaí arrived to say Jasmine had died.
She said a lot of what followed was “a blur” but she knew she had to be strong for her unborn son and the two beautiful girls whose mother had been “savagely stolen away from them”.
The story was awful and horrendous for many reasons, she said but one of the hardest parts of the story is “the two sisters torn apart” by what happened.
She said Ms McMonagle’s youngest daughter is now trying to process things that are “unfathomable to a child” as she grows up. The little girl and her sister now live in separate houses and told how every time she has to say goodbye to her big sister “her heart is broken”, she added.
She said because of the actions of one person, Jasmine will never get to see her two daughters grow up, and she will never get to have a happy life “free from fear and pain”.
The trial heard gardaí attended the house in Forest Park, Killygordon following a 999 call by Ms McMonagle at 4.21am stating that she was in fear for her life. The first officers on the scene were confronted by Burke brandishing a butcher-style meat cleaver which he swung at one of the members of the force, making contact with his clothing and narrowly missing his arm.
A garda went to the rear of the property shortly after 5am and saw Ms McMonagle's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood after he looked through a small gap in the curtains of a kitchen window.
Crisis negotiator
A trained crisis negotiator was deployed at the scene and efforts to gain access to the house continued for some time before gardaí decided immediate and forced entry to the property was needed after Ms McMonagle’s young daughter was seen at a front bedroom window of the house.
During three garda interviews which took place following the killing, Burke told investigating officers he “went ballistic” and started punching Ms McMonagle and strangling her with a rope. He said he was still holding the rope when gardaí knocked.
Burke also said he hated violence towards women. He said that he and Ms McMonagle had been fighting and he “went ballistic” after he discovered she had made a 999 call to gardaí for help.
“I have a real bad temper, I just blanked I went ballistic absolutely f***ing ballistic,” Mr Burke said.
“Because I hate guards I just went ballistic, started punching the f*** out of her then strangling here with a rope. I was only trying to make her see sense.”
Asked how many times he had hit Ms McMonagle, the accused replied: “How long is a piece of string."
“All I remember is punching her, my mind is a pure blank, it’s like someone else took over. I remember my hand being sore. I do remember strangling her and then tap tap tap. F***.”
Forensic analysis
A forensic analysis of the scene suggested that most of the beating sustained by Ms McMonagle occurred in the corner of the kitchen while she was sitting crouched or on the floor.
The trial heard evidence from Dr Dearbhla Duffy, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, who said it was her view that Mr Burke was “acutely psychotic” at the time of the alleged offences and for a short period afterwards.
Dr Anthony Kearns, a now retired forensic psychiatrist who formerly worked at the Central Mental Hospital, said it was his view that Mr Burke was suffering from a mental disorder that substantially diminished his responsibility for Ms McMonagle’s killing.
The psychiatrist said this mental disorder was complicated by the accused’s use of drugs over many years.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Sergeant Brendan McCann told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC that Burke has 23 previous convictions. The majority of these are district court convictions, he said, and include those for the possession of drugs, criminal damage, assault, various public order offences and possession of knives.
Mr Justice Paul Burns remanded Burke in custody for sentence on May 22nd.
