A family whose mother died in a violent Christmas dispute with two of her sons was yesterday urged to try to put the tragedy behind it.
Coroner Dr Colm Quigley told the family of Mrs Julia O'Brien, from Drimoleague, west Cork, to try to remember the good times they had with their mother. Mrs O'Brien (44), mother of five, died from asphyxia after being strangled and beaten in a family row on December 24th, 1995, an inquest into her death in Bantry was told.
The inquest heard how Mrs O'Brien, who had a serious drink problem, was struck by her sons, Noel (22) and Kieran (23), in a row after they found she spent £180 grocery money on drink.
Kieran told gardai he had hit his mother twice on the head as she lay intoxicated on her bed and later both he and Noel kicked and beat her downstairs after she threw soup at Noel.
She grabbed on to Kieran's leg and he squeezed her neck for around 30 seconds to get her to release him. Both sons went to bed thinking she was still alive, the inquest heard.
Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the inquest Mrs O'Brien suffered a fracture to her ribs and to a small bone in her neck as well as bruising to her neck. The cause of death was asphyxia caused by manual strangulation contributed to by enforced trauma to the body.
Murder charges against Kieran, Noel and their father Joe (49), were dropped but Kieran was convicted of manslaughter and Noel was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
But both were given suspended sentences when Mrs O'Brien's brother, Dan Twomey, asked the Central Criminal Court not to jail them so they could be free to visit their mother's grave.
Sympathising with the O'Brien and Twomey families, Dr Quigley revealed he knew Mrs O'Brien when she was a young girl and worked for his family in Enniskeane. "She was a lovely girl . . . she worked very hard, was very honest, and diligent but unfortunately later on in life alcohol took over and that changed the whole scene," he said.