The mother of 14-year-old Daragh Conroy who was hammered to death for his mobile phone has told a court that her life is "unbearable" without him.
Mrs Conroy was delivering a victim impact statement to Mr Justice White at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Darren Goodwin (16), Graigue, Mountmellick, Co Laois, had been found guilty last July at the Central Criminal court of murdering Daragh.
He had pleaded not guilty to the murder at Briar Lane, Mountmellick, on November 11th, 2003.
Daragh's body was found on waste ground in Smithsfield, Mountmellick, shortly before midnight on November 11th, 2003. He had suffered "six separate blows to his head", five of which were "inflicted in rapid succession . . . with considerable force" while he was lying on the ground, the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, told the court during the eight-day trial.
The jury of five men and seven women found the youth guilty by a majority of 11-1 last July.
Mr Justice White told the court he needed extra time to consider matters and would sentence Goodwin on Friday.
Daragh's mother, Ms Patricia Conroy, broke down in court as she read out her victim impact report to the packed court.
"Trying to write this report was the most difficult thing I've had to do in all my life," she said. "I had to do it, I had to do it for Daragh."
Darren Goodwin's mother, Ms Olive Goodwin, told the court: "I am sorry for what has happened. It is beyond my understanding, totally. We are very sorry for what happened. If we could turn back the clock and make it different, we would."
She said her son "never showed any violence in all his life towards anyone". She said there "had been some difficulties at home" and that he had moved in with his father who lived outside the town. "We were trying to put him on the right track," she said.
The court heard that the 16- year-old had only met his father for the first time shortly before he moved in with him just over a year ago. Ms Goodwin said her son had made a "suicide attempt" a few weeks before the fatal attack. The hospital "told us there was nothing wrong with him".
When she commented on her son's lack of respect during the trial, Mr Justice White interrupted to say that if anything the defence counsel had understated the attitude shown.
During the trial Dr Marie Cassidy said the schoolboy's skull "had been broken up and was like a jigsaw with some of the pieces fallen out of the wounds". Fragments of his skull, she said, were found around his collar and under his right hand. She said the head injuries were caused by a hammer or some type of blunt weapon.
Last July Mr Justice White said a mandatory life sentence was normally handed down for a guilty of murder verdict, but said that "there is an exception when it comes to dealing with juveniles".
"I have the discretion on the issue of sentencing," he told the jury. He said he would have to take the teenager's "tender years" into consideration and added that "at the very least, there is a psychological aspect and indeed there might be a psychiatric aspect to this case".
The jury heard last July that on November 11th, 2003, both father and son had an appointment between 6.15 p.m. and 7.15 p.m. with a nun who is a psychotherapist. Goodwin's father told the court that his son had been living with him for six months. He told the jury that he had only become part of his son's life in 2003.
Before that the boy had been living with his mother in his grandparents' house in Davenpark, Mountmellick. He said his son had attempted suicide in September 2003 and that he "was very worried about him".
The prosecution case rested primarily on the evidence of several of his friends and acquaintances who testified that he had been talking about killing someone the week before and then admitted to the murder on the night in question.
One of his classmates told the court that at 7.15 p.m. on the night in question, he was out with two of his friends when they were joined by Goodwin. The student said that Goodwin had said: "Jesus, I'd love to kill someone, someone that no one would care about, like Daragh Conroy."
Another witness testified that Goodwin admitted to the murder at about 8 p.m. on the date in question. "He said 'I hit him in the head with a hammer'. He said he hid the hammer behind galvanised steel," she said.
Goodwin's grandfather confirmed in court that a hammer was found under galvanised steel in his back garden during a Garda search but insisted he had never seen the round-ended hammer before in his life. "My hammer is a claw hammer," he said.
Ms Conroy also gave evidence early in the trial. She said when she got home at 5.30 p.m. she presumed Daragh was still out with his friends. She then became concerned and rang her son's mobile phone before 6 p.m. "When I rang, I got the message 'This phone is out of service'.
She told the court her son's mobile was only a few weeks old. "That's why I bought it so we could stay in touch with each other," she said.
An adult witness also told the jury that Goodwin had called into him between 4 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. that evening.
"He had a phone for me," he said. He said the 16-year-old had sold him a phone "the week before and it wasn't working so he said he would get me another one straight away".
Goodwin called back at 5.50 p.m. with a new mobile phone. The victim's phone, a Nokia 3510 with a cream back and a gold front, was shown to the witness in court who said it was the same phone, "the same model anyway".
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, pointed to the lack of forensic evidence and certain "oddities" in the case. He also said Goodwin had no apparent motive for the killing. "The 'why' in this case seems as missing today as it was back in November," Mr Gageby said.