#CARDINAL BURKE TRIAL#
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. He has ruined our lives and we can never get Mammy back.” In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl said: “I wish mammy had never ever met him.
She said Richard Burke had “ruined our lives” and she and her little sister would “never get Mammy back”. The court also heard from Ms McMonagle’s 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 was a small petite girl and I think about how powerless she must have felt and how I wasn’t there to help her.” 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. Now Jasmine’s daughters spend Christmas at their mother’s grave. She told the court Jasmine had always loved spending time with her family and Christmas was a special time for them but the holiday “means nothing to me any more”. She said Jasmine was a “kind and generous” person who adored and lived for her two girls. Jasmine’s mother became emotional as she told the court the family had all been given a life sentence of suffering and pain. 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, with a unanimous decision.Īt a sentencing hearing in April, the victim’s mother Jacqueline McMonagle said that January 4th, 2019 was the day “my world fell apart”, when Jasmine’s life and future were “horrifically taken from her” by Burke. Burke (32) of Killygordon, County Donegal, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms McMonagle at Forest Park, Killygordon on January 4th, 2019 but guilty to manslaughter.Īt Burke’s trial, sitting in Monaghan earlier this year, two psychiatrists agreed that Burke was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing which substantially diminished his responsibility. 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. He also factored in Burke’s level of premeditation and that he had previously expressed an intention to kill his victim. The judge noted the level of violence used against a defenceless woman that included the use of weapons and the fact she was at home with her two children at the time. He said that Burke “must bear a considerable degree of responsibility” for the crime.
Mr Justice Burns said that despite his condition, Burke knew that what he was doing was wrong, understood the nature of what he was doing and he could have stopped himself. One of the doctors noted that the disorder “may have been triggered or exacerbated” by drug use. The court heard that his responsibility for the killing was substantially diminished by a mental disorder. Mr Justice Paul Burns on Monday passed sentence on Richard Burke who was found not guilty of murdering Jasmine McMonagle but guilty of her manslaughter earlier this year. A man who strangled and beat his on-off partner to death during a psychotic episode that may have been triggered or exacerbated by drug use has been jailed for 14 years and must undergo five years of post-release supervision and psychiatric care.
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