A jury in Ireland has convicted a man of murdering the mother of his then partner, whose body was dismembered and scattered across the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.
Kieran Greene, 35, was on Tuesday found guilty of murdering Patricia O’Connor, 61, after a six-week trial that transfixed Ireland.
Prosecutors said Greene bludgeoned O’Connor, the mother of his then partner, to death at the home they shared in Rathfarnham, a Dublin suburb, on 29 May 2017.
Other family members are accused of impeding Greene’s apprehension and prosecution. His ex-partner, 41-year-old Louise O’Connor, allegedly acquiesced in her daughter, 22-year-old Stephanie O’Connor, disguising herself as her grandmother to conceal the fact she was dead.
Keith Johnston, Stephanie’s father and the ex-partner of Louise, is also accused of impeding Green’s prosecution. All three deny having done so. The jury is to resume deliberations about them on Wednesday.
Louise testified that living with her mother was like “walking on eggshells”, and that she could be violent and abusive. Greene told the court the victim had threatened the family and frightened the children.
The jury heard that Greene walked into a police station on 12 June 2017, two weeks after the murder, and said he had done “something terrible”.
He described to gardaí burying his mother-in-law in a shallow grave, then digging her up, chopping up the remains to make them lighter and scattering them across the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. Fifteen sets of remains were found in nine locations.
Greene said O‘Connor had attacked him in the bathroom and he had defended himself with a hurley stick, saying he panicked and did not intend to kill her. “I couldn’t overpower her; if I wanted to kill her, why would I wait 10 years?”
A pathologist testified that a solid implement struck O’Connor’s head at least three times and that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
In December 2017, Greene amended his version and told police O’Connor’s husband, Gus, had killed her and that Johnston, his partner’s ex, had dismembered the body. He claimed he was “set up” to take the blame.
Prosecutors said Greene changed his story because he believed that while he was in custody his partner had resumed a relationship with her ex and was jealous. They told the jury his first version was more coherent and credible.
Greene has yet to be sentenced.
