11 years for
baby killer
PHILIP DOYLE the Wicklow man who killed three and a half month old Ross Murphy in Gorey has been sentenced to eleven years in prison.
The 34 year old from Tinakilly, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow was found guilty in May at the Central Criminal Court of the manslaughter of his ex-fiancŽe’s baby son at their home in Creagh Demesne, Gorey on April 5th 2005.
Doyle began his sentence on Wednesday at Mountjoy for processing, but it is expected that he will be moved into an isolation unit at Wheatfield or Portlaoise for his own safety.
On Tuesday last at the Central Criminal Court, Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy said “It was a serious case of assault manslaughter on a child. Significant violence was inflicted over a period of time and the deceased was a helpless child. The accused persisted in lying in the circumstances of the injuries suffered [by Ross] and the lies aggravate this homicide in many ways.”
The letter of apology written by Doyle and read out to the court the week before sentencing “does not even now accept the truth and his apology is of no worth,” said Judge McCarthy.
Speaking after the sentencing, Adele Murphy, the sister of Ross’ mother Leona, described the anguish suffered by the entire Murphy family over the past seven years and throughout the trial.
“There are no words to describe the hurt and pain that we as a family feel for the loss of baby Ross,” she said, “for the last seven years we have been grieving the death of Ross – not knowing how or why he died. Now knowing the injuries he received and how tragic and painful his last days with us were, we find ourselves grieving all over again for our son, grandson, nephew and cousin. Our lives will never be the same again.”
Despite the heartache caused by the ordeal, she said the family were happy with the outcome of the trial.
“We will never lose the ache in our hearts or the feeling of loss. Nothing or no one will ever replace our little baby angel Ross. We are happy with the sentence and we got the closure we were waiting for.”
Reports in the media following the sentencing had locals in Aughrim describing Doyle as a “Jack the Lad” who never grew up, and whose actions in the lead up to the trial gave the impression of a man without a care in the world.
He met Leona Murphy in 2004, when she was heavily pregnant with Ross, and following his birth in December, the pair moved in together in January 2005 and became engaged. Doyle had tried to have his name listed on Ross’ birth certificate as his father, the court heard, but Leona Murphy would not allow it.
The court heard that Ross was initially taken toWexford GeneralHospitalon March 31st 2005 because he was “lifeless” and getting sick on the bed. He was kept in for observation because of a rash on his neck and released on Sunday April 3rd, but was returned later that evening.
On the night of April 3rd, Ross had been in the sole care of Doyle, while Ms. Murphy was out of the house getting a DVD. Following readmission to Wexford, he was rushed in the early hours of the morning to Crumlin but died the next day of brain trauma.
Following Ross’ death in 2005, Doyle for three weeks denied anything happening to Ross in his care, giving a witness statement that Ross had not fallen. However, in an interview three weeks later, he told Garda’ he had tripped and fallen on the wooden floor in the living room while holding the baby.
The defence claimed Ross’ death was accidental, while the prosecution said that Doyle’s defence was based on a lie.
During the course of the trial, State Pathologist Prof. Marie Cassidy concluded that Ross died from brain trauma from which he would not have recovered. She said such trauma would not be expected in a not yet mobile baby without some explanation. She said that Ross’ injuries “high suggested a shaking incident.”
Doyle, at the start of his four week trial in April, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ross Murphy at the home he shared with the baby’s mother, Leona Murphy, in Gorey seven years ago, and mid way through the trial, Judge McCarthy instructed the jury to acquit him of murder and to consider a manslaughter charge. The reason, he said, was that the prosecution had not made a case that the jury could find, without reasonable doubt, that Doyle had murdered the baby (an act which requires intention), as they could not prove how the child had received the injuries which killed him.
