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A CAVAN FATHER-of-four who killed his wife of 33 years at their home has been jailed for 12 years.
Oliver Kierans (57) of Drumbannon Bailieborough in Cavan had pleaded not guilty to murdering Patricia Kierans (54) on 5 September 2013 at the same address.
A majority verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter was reached after more than 15 hours of deliberations.
He was found guilty of the possession of a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun and guilty of possession with intent to endanger life last February.
Patricia Kierans died from a shotgun injury to the chest after being shot at quite close range.
The two and a half week trial heard that Patricia Kierans, who had been married to Oliver Kierans for more than 33 years, had moved out of the family home in June 2013.
The jury were told that this did not sit well with the accused who had recently begun drinking again after abstaining for the summer.
The Central Criminal Court heard that out of the Kierans four children, three have moved to Australia along with six of their ten grandchildren.
In his testimony, Oliver Kierans described a “fixation” Patricia had that he was having an affair.
The court heard that Patricia Kierans was shot with a shotgun at quite close range sustaining a very serious wound to her chest from which she died.
It was the State’s case that afterwards, Oliver Kierans went to The Square bar in Bailieborough where a “siege” took place and he was found by gardaí with a sawn off shotgun.
Throughout the two-and-a-half week trial, the jury were shown CCTV footage in which a man identified as Oliver Kierans is seen pointing a double barrel shotgun at a man identified as local guard, Tommy Fay.
In separate CCTV footage from the morning of 5 September, a man identified by gardaí as Oliver Kierans was seen by the jury, entering Clarke’s shop in Bailieborough to purchase two naggins of whiskey.
State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy gave evidence that the cause of death was a shotgun injury to the chest.
Professor Cassidy concluded that the cause of death was a shotgun injury to the chest which could have been shot from a distance of 1.2 metres or 4 feet and that the injuries were of such severity that death would have been almost immediate.
Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly said today that it is “tragic” that Mr Kierans caused the death of Patricia Kierans.
“It is tragic that the defendant caused the death of Patricia Kierans. She took great care of her children,” said Ms Justice Donnelly.
“This tragedy was brought about by the criminal act of the defendant. I agree with the jury that the correct interpretation is manslaughter through gross negligence,” she continued.
“Regarding the offences of possession of a sawn off shotgun, he was also convicted of unlawful possession and possession with intent to endanger life,” she said.
“Oliver and Pat met as teenagers – at the time of the death of Patricia, they had been married 33 years. In spring, early summer of 2013, unhappy differences arose in the relationship,” she said.
“Mrs Kierans moved out of the family home and in with her sister and did not have contact with Mr Kierans over the summer – she began a new relationship,” she said.
“Mr Kierans sent a number of text messages asking her to reconsider. At 7.30am, he went to a shop and bought two naggins of whiskey.
“Oliver Kierans drove to where Patricia Kierans car was parked. Mrs Kierans got into the car on the driver side and Mr Kierans on the passenger side and drove to family home,” she said.
“It appears they both went into the house and upstairs to a bedroom. It is the evidence of Mr Kierans that he picked up his firearm with the intention to taking his own life and the firearm discharged in direction of Patricia Kierans.”
Speaking outside court, Solicitor Cahir O’Higgins said the outcome was not a happy one for the Kierans family.
“On behalf of the family, I would like to say that while they are pleased he was acquitted of the murder charge, this isn’t a happy outcome,” he said.
It is a tragedy for two families. While they celebrate that aspect, they are grieving. There are two tragedies.
Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly sentenced Kierans to nine years for manslaughter, eight years for unlawful possession of a firearm and 12 years for possession with intent to endanger life to run concurrently.
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Creating these kinds of situations where higher education is becoming more out of reach for those in the squeezed middle and at even lower socio economic levels is no accident. What we are seeing is a purposeful perpetuation of the haves and the have nots in order to consolidate power and money for the select few. The rest can just go to hell and give up their hopes of doing better in life than a basic wage job where more and more are fighting for fewer and fewer jobs; where the pay will be a race to the bottom, and working conditions will become worse so that those at the top can continue to line their ever expanding pockets off the misery of the majority.
@Patty Cullinane: Absolutely, social engineering at its most subtle. Unfortunately a lot of the affected have lost, or have had their capacity for critical thinking and analysis numbed, by the constant inane noise that is ‘social media’; this facilitated by the ‘smart’ phone – and its immense capabilities to distract from reality.
@Patty Cullinane: welcome to east america
@Patty Cullinane: Why can’t those people living in city Centre accommodation for 27 a week avail of education.
The carefree attitude allowing these huge percentage increases in prevalent throughout the rental sector. It is obviously a situation out of hand and despite Varadkar proclaiming it an emergency absolutely nothing is being done. Inaction bordering on criminal negligence.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W:
There is only one thing a politician is afraid of, being voted out of the Dail. FG and by extension FF because of their support for the government, have made a complete mess of the rental sector but they are going up in the polls.
Nothing is going to change.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W: The classic Irish attitude of “If I can charge more I will” is the main cause of the problem for higher rental costs.
@Andy K: I think the 52% tax has more to do with high rents than anything else along with very poor protection for landlords when it comes to not paying rent.
@Kal Ipers: Company’s wouldn’t pay 52% Kal.
Would love to know who is financing this project. One of our beloved state banks?
@prop joe: Perhaps not ‘our beloved state banks’ (the latter day government), by a little fluffy REIT from Canada – insofar as Canada remains a country rather than an estate.
It is sickening to think that students and there parents have to pay through there nose to try educate themselves and get a good start in life and the Gov. sits by, yet if all these students never went to college/applied themselves and just turned up at the social office they’d get dole a medical card , rent allowance and eventually a council house.. than the same gov would hand them back to education allowances etc. High time a higher percentage of the gov budget is directed towards people who want to better themselves and not just those with the hand out doing nothing.
Where does the money go if these are purpose built accommodation for students.What a government looking after the future of this country what with fees, incurance, and accommodation price hikes.
Surely this is well over the rent cap they brought in, which has basically not been enforced at all.
@Andy K: New tenants every year means they can hike it how they like. The 4% cap is for sitting tenants every two years.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W:
Yes the 4% doesn’t apply but it’s because it is temporary accommodation, ie not their permanent home.
The 4% is for people that live in their accommodation seven days 52 weeks and is 4% every year, not every two years.
For a country that sells itself as having a well educated local workforce, we aren’t helping ourselves by pricing students out of further education. We are going down the American route where third lvl education is now a business and not a benefit to the country.
A clear example of a publicly needed service being privatised.
Will not be a big issue with Leo and the hipsters, the media battery chickens of PK and Rourkey spout all day long The Private Sector will drive down costs,the wealth creators, creating ruthless efficiencies, give it to the private sector and they’ll show you how its done. I want kids in college who’s going prescribe my meds and mind us when we’re old, fix my car, cook etc. Lost 6K myself to a dingy digs provider for daughter with all the compassion of a knife.
Not to be confused with the private sector workers who are being equally as screwed by this setup. Compassion is the natural enemy to profit.
We need to do more for the small landlords. Somebody who has been left a house, who decides to rent it out will pay over 50% of the rent on taxes, regardless of other incomes, coupled with the fact that laws favour bad Tennant’s, a landlord could be 2 years without rent by the time the eviction of non payers is complete. Students who have mammy and daddy paying rent will not look after a house and may just party causing damage so hence higher risk with students so higher rents.
With all mentioned above you can’t blame people using short term rents.
@Philip Morgan: so many people want to buy and are stuck renting because landlords are hogging all the property. I don’t feel aorry for them at all. They can get jobs and work for their money like everyone else and not expect other people to pay for their assets for them through rent.
@Smelly Chemist: So you think all landlords should sell up??
In the past student accommodation had to be priced more keenly because many students rented houses from private landlords. Through a series of disastrous policy decisions the Government has made many small time landlords leave the sector with consequent impact on rental supply. The aim being to professionalize the sector -well this is what professional sectors do – they hike up rents to the maximum they can get away with because they answer only to their shareholders.
@Sean: DCU onsite accomadation was always higher than renting privately. It was never keenly priced. It was cheaper for a friend’s parents to buy a house and pay the mortgage than put 2 of them in student accomadation
Keep in Mind that the professional tenements that FG wants are also not going to be regarded as permanent accommodation. By setting 1k as average student rent for a single room a month they can charge the professionals more.
The only rooms more expensive than 1k a month are the hotel rooms that help with kickbacks to private enterprise for exploiting homelessness for profit.
Think of any other sector where a 27% hike is even conceivable- you cant; and that explains why FG will never, never, do anything about individuals like these students, and countless families of course, being in crisis. It’s just too damn profitable for their buddies. I’d like to think the lesson these youngsters are getting in the realities of rentier capitalism will inspire them to change our rotten little state in years to come but the fact that they come from relative comfort or they wouldn’t be at UCD implies they’ll go the traditional Irish route from exploited to exploiter; in a decade some will be landlords (on interest-only buy-to-let mortgages) and more will be employed by the banks and REITs who are the Blueshirsts’ masters. This is the worst of it; because people are ripped off themselves they feel entitled, impelled, to rip others off later and vote for the hard right parties- there’s nothing ‘center’ about FG or FF- that keep the exploitative merry-go-round going. It’s up to the permanently uncomfortable, the class who can’t dream of supporting kids at college, who can’t think of even having kids until they’ve sacrificed their best years on the alter of bankster, developer and landlord greed, to smash the circle of abuse. Vote socialist!
@Michael Bride: Expense increases on landlords would have gone up that amount and more. As taxes are 52% for every extra €1 expense requires €2 increase to get the same money as before. So the government added more expenses to landlords and took away the tax relief on interest. (did come back but for a lesser amount) LPT, PRTB charges added too while the government then cut rent allowance and forced many landlords to accept it breaking leases.
The public loved this and ignored the warnings that the costs would get passed on. Many landlords operated at a loss because of this and now are recouping these losses. The government then introduced the RPZs restricting landlords to increases a lot less than the government imposed on landlords.
@Kal Ipers: So the poor landlord is the real victim here? You could sing that if you had a tune Kal- I’m not buying it!
Absolutely disgraceful conduct
Foreign investors pension funds
@Jono: No Irish people have money in this too. The vast majority of rental property is Irish owned.
@Jono: If you have a pension, you’re probably a landlord.
I remember in the early 2000′s that students were paying €100/130 a week to share a pokey bedroom in Dublin. Tiny living area etc. all shared by 4-8 people.
Adjusted for inflation, those DCU prices don’t seem too bad.
@Ronan McKeon: It’s about €250 a week now, so two and a half times as much. I don’t remember a pint costing €2 in the early 2000s. But yes, it was always bad.
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