Mark Hennessy telephoned his wife before he was shot dead by a garda on Sunday evening and told her they would never see each other again, it has emerged. He also left a note apologising for what he had done and indicating where he had dumped the body of Jastine Valdez, the 24-year-old accountancy student he is suspected to have abducted on Saturday.
The note he left in his Nissan Qashqai was bloodied, apparently as a result of self-inflicted wounds, and investigators have now found a large quantity of what they suspect to be Hennessy's blood in the car. Gardaí believe that, after killing Ms Valdez, Hennessy repeatedly cut himself with a Stanley knife, and was probably preparing to take his own life. His note said he was sorry and to check Puck's Castle, in the Rathmichael area of south Co Dublin, where the Garda found her body on Monday afternoon, concealed in thick gorse.
Abduction and murder
The car's satellite-navigation system identified several places in south Co Dublin and north Co Wicklow that the Qashqai had been driven to in the 26 hours or so that Hennessy, a construction worker from Bray, Co Wicklow, had been unaccounted for. He abducted Ms Valdez just after 6pm on Saturday, from a road at the edge of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, and was shot dead at about 8pm on Sunday, at Cherrywood Business Park, on the outskirts of south Dublin. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is investigating the shooting; one line of inquiry is that Hennessy ran at gardaí with his knife.
Witnesses have said they saw the Qashqai being driven around the Rathmichael area “like a rally car” just before 7pm on Saturday. Gardaí believe Hennessy was looking for somewhere to dump the body of Ms Valdez, whom they suspect he punched as she was walking home, before pushing her into his car and driving away.
Sexual motivation
One strong line of inquiry is that the attack was sexually motivated. As witnesses have said Ms Valdez appeared to be banging on the car’s windows, to try to escape, gardaí believe Hennessy may then have panicked, and instead killed her very shortly after abducting her. The postmortem on Ms Valdez’s remains, which is due to take place on Tuesday evening, should confirm how she died and whether she was sexually assaulted.
Detectives are also looking into reports that, after dumping Ms Valdez’s body, Hennessy spent Saturday night in a pub in south Dublin. His postmortem should be able to detect alcohol or any other intoxicants.
The Garda has renewed its appeal for help tracking Hennessy’s movements between 5pm on Saturday, May 19th, and 8pm on Sunday, May 21st. It is asking drivers with dashboard-mounted cameras to give it their footage if they were in the Dalkey, Killiney, Ballybrack, Sallynoggin, Cherrywood or Rathmichael areas of south Co Dublin at the time.
Hennessy may have stopped his Nissan Qashqai, which was black, with the registration number 171-D-20419, at restaurants, cafes, petrol-station shops, or bars. He was 176cm (5ft 9in) tall, slightly built and balding, and was wearing a dark T-shirt, blue jeans and grey runners.
The Garda has asked anyone with information to contact Bray Garda station on 01-6665300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111, or any Garda station.
