Inquest into fatal stabbing of student returns verdict of unlawful killing

AN INQUEST into the death of Sebastian Creane, who was fatally stabbed in his home in Bray, Co Wicklow, last August, has returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

The inquest in Wicklow yesterday was told that 22-year-old Creane, a student at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, died after being duped into allowing Shane Clancy into his home.

Creane’s girlfriend Jennifer Hannigan, then aged 22, and his brother Dylan, then 28, were also stabbed in the frenzied knife attack. Clancy then went to the garden and took his own life.

Gardaí said they found blood on the ground floor walls and floor, in the hall, on the stairs and in a number of rooms upstairs when they were called to the Creane family home at Cuala Grove in Bray in the early hours of August 16th.

They said they found Sebastian in a pool of blood on the floor of his parents’ bedroom, with his brother Dylan stabbed and bleeding on the bed, while both men were being comforted by Dylan’s girlfriend Laura Mackey.

Ms Hannigan, who had been stabbed in the back in a downstairs room, had climbed a garden wall and gone to a neighbour’s house for help.

In a statement read to the inquest on her behalf, Ms Hannigan said she had previously been romantically involved with Clancy, but despite ending their relationship Clancy had become increasingly jealous of her evolving relationship with Sebastian. On the night of August 15th she travelled to the Creane family home by taxi. She said Sebastian told her he had been out socialising earlier and had got a lift home from Clancy, an odd situation which had worried him.

Sebastian told her he had invited Clancy in for tea but after Clancy had asked for a scissors and a knife to repair a shoelace, Sebastian had asked him to leave.

Ms Hannigan said she started to get texts and calls from Clancy, whom it transpired was outside.

Clancy said he had been physically injured “and asked for Seb to help him”, she said. When Sebastian opened the front door they saw Clancy “hobbling” towards them, clutching his hands to his sides. Suddenly she heard Sebastian shout “what the f**k is that” and call to her to “run, Jen, run”.

She said she ran back into the sitting room, from where she could hear an altercation and either Sebastian or his brother shouting “what the f**k is this about”.

Clancy came into the sitting room and she was backing away saying “please don’t do this to me” when she fell over a couch and felt a stab in the back. She said she was able to run from the room into the garden and climbed a wall to a neighbour’s house to get help.

A statement from Dylan Creane recalled how he and Laura Mackey had been woken by Sebastian coming into his bedroom saying he had been stabbed. He went to investigate and was stabbed by Clancy. He recalled a desperate struggle with Clancy on the stairs in which he believed Clancy would kill him. He noticed a broken picture but could not reach the glass to use as a weapon. He eventually found a set of keys with a Swiss army knife and, still struggling, was able to get it open and threaten to stab Clancy in the eye with the knife.

With Clancy distracted, he was able to escape up the stairs and found Ms Mackey and Sebastian in his parents’ room. It was only when he lay on the bed that he realised the extent of his injuries and felt pain. “I kissed Seb on the cheek and neck and said stay with me,” he said.

“It was only when mum arrived at the hospital that she confirmed that Seb had died. I kind of knew Seb had died anyway,” he said.