Chapter 15: Saturday 30 April

JJ Muggivan

After setting the car on fire, Brendan had begun walking towards Eyrecourt. He went to the house of Paddy Monaghan, his aunt’s husband.

He arrived at the house and met Paddy Monaghan and his two sons. It was some time in the afternoon of Saturday 30 April. Brendan believed that, by this time, it would have been discovered that Imelda and Liam were missing. He still had the gun, the live ammunition, and the spent shells in his pocket. He had burned Imelda Riney’s car and left it ina wood near Loughrea, having previously removed the bumper and front licence plate and thrown them into a field.

It was a long walk from the wood near Loughrea to Eyrecourt. But the Monaghans lived closer to where he was. He went there as he was hungry, and because he could not risk going to his grandparents’ yet. His uncle, Mike Quinn, might show up and have a fight with him over not turning himself in to the guards as he had promised a month earlier.

Paddy Monaghan was his uncle by marriage. He was married to his mother’s sister. There were three men in the family: Paddy Monaghan, the father, and John and Dermot Monaghan, the sons.

Brendan walked in, wearing a green cord jacket with jeans. He said that he had a gun to protect himself, but that he would not use it to kill or hurt anyone. It was about 3.30 or 4.00 on Saturday afternoon, 30 April.

Brendan had a meal with the Monaghans. They noticed that he became uneasy when he heard a garda car. He said that he had stolen a red Ford Fiesta and had burned it out in the forest. He told them that his fingerprints would have been in the car and he was afraid that the guards might be looking for him. He could see that the Monaghan men were uncomfortable with him and, anyway, he could not relax.

Later, the three men drove him to his grandparents’ house, which was only a short walk away from the priest’s house. As they drove, the gun was at Brendan’s feet on the floor behind the driver’s seat of the car.

When they got to his grandparents’ house, Brendan put the gun around the back. While they were having tea with Mrs Quinn, he began to laugh for no apparent reason, and continued to laugh for about a quarter of hour. At the time, the Monaghans did not know about the disappearance of Imelda and Liam Riney.

Brendan was anxious to leave before his uncle returned. He had grown uneasy. After tea, he and the Monaghan brothers went outside where Brendan showed them the gun which he had put

under a piece of polythene. The letters BSA were written on it.

The Monaghans walked down the road with Brendan towards Meelick and away from Eyrecourt. He told them that there was a shed up the road where he might spend the night. At one point, he stopped to put on his jacket and gave the gun to John Monaghan to hold.