A young man who incurred seven fatal gunshot wounds at the hands of his brother and father before they ended their own lives left a note in which he detailed his concern for his safety and for that of his mother because of pressure relating to a family will.
Former nurse Anne O'Sullivan, 61, of Raheen, Assolas in Kanturk, Co Cork faced unimaginable grief on October 26th of last year when her entire family disappeared from her life overnight in the most bleak of circumstances. She was terminally ill at the time and has since passed away.
An inquest at Mallow District Court heard that Tadg O'Sullivan, 59, and his younger son Diarmuid, 23, ended their own lives via self inflicted gun shot wounds after they had murdered 26-year-old Mark O'Sullivan amid tension about a family will.
The inquest heard that after his death a letter written by Mark was found in his mother's pharmacy bag in which he detailed feeling distraught after coming under pressure from his brother and father about what would happen to the family farm following the death of Anne.
Mark said he felt like a "caged animal who was abused by his captors." He said Diarmuid and Tadg had told him that they would leave a "veil of destruction" and that there would be "no lights on in Raheen(the farm) again.
The inquest heard that Mark was shot dead in the bedroom of his home. He incurred a traumatic brain injury and had raised his arms to protect himself.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster, who performed postmortems on all three men, said that Mark would have passed away rapidly from his injuries. She said in evidence that the bedroom where Mark died had splashes of blood to a duvet and a drawer.
Tadg and Diarmuid shot Mark before they went to a field next to the property and ended their own lives.
The jury and Coroner Dr Michael Kennedy heard that Anne got up at around 7am on the day of the murder. She heard a gunshot and went to Mark's room where she noted he had sustained gun shot injuries. Her husband Tadg and Diarmuid were standing in the house with guns.
The pair then shot Mark again in front of his mother. They subsequently left the property and Anne fled the house in her night clothes to seek refuge with neighbours. Father and son had smashed all the phones in the house so she was unable to raise the alarm. They had also taken her phone from her.
Gardai found the men dead in a nearby field. They had both shot themselves in their mouths with forensics indicating that Diarmuid killed himself first with Tadg then shooting himself.
The case continues.
If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this article please contact:
Samaritans helpline 116 123
Aware helpline 1800 80 48 48
Pieta House on 1800 247 247
