DUBLIN PHARMACIST Karen Walsh will serve a minimum of 20 years in prison for the murder of her Newry neighbour Maire Rankin (81) on Christmas morning three years ago.
Mr Justice Hart at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast referred to the very limited psychiatric information before the court in considering sentencing.
The jury had heard that Walsh, who drank neat a litre bottle of vodka in Mrs Rankin’s house, physically and sexually assaulted her with a crucifix that had been hanging on the wall. There was a mark of the crown of thorns from the cross on Mrs Rankin’s chin.
Yesterday at the sentencing hearing, Walsh (45), dressed in her customary black trouser suit, remained impassive when Mr Justice Hart told her the minimum term she must serve before she could have any hope of release.
Her legal team says Walsh, who owns a pharmacy on George’s Street in Dublin, still maintains her innocence and an appeal of the verdict is being considered.
“The exceptional vulnerability of Mrs Rankin and the deliberately degrading way in which she was treated after her death mean that the minimum term must be a severe one to reflect the gravity of this truly heinous crime,” Mr Justice Hart said.
Earlier this month a jury of seven women and five men found Walsh guilty of bludgeoning Mrs Rankin to death after visiting her at home at about 11.30pm on Christmas Eve in 2008, and that she sexually assaulted her to try to suggest that an unknown intruder was responsible.
Walsh and her husband, accountant Richard Durkin, both worked in Dublin. In November 2007, they bought a weekend retreat house adjoining Mrs Rankin’s on the Dublin Road in Newry.
When the sentence was passed and as she was led from the court yesterday, Walsh showed no emotion, nor did she look at her husband sitting in the public gallery.
Mr Justice Hart referred to how the prosecution accepted that Walsh’s attack on Mrs Rankin was not premeditated and that it was carried out for an “unfathomable reason”, possibly prompted by Mrs Rankin upbraiding Walsh for being drunk and not being at home with her young son.
He referred to how Mrs Rankin had 16 broken ribs which was suggestive of an attempt at cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
“I consider that it is highly probable that the defendant tried to resuscitate but will not admit that she did so because that would be to admit that she was present when the attack took place, something she continues to deny.
“The sexual maltreatment and degradation of Mrs Rankin’s body after the killing are aggravating factors which require the court to increase the minimum term to figure very substantially above 15 to 16 years,” Mr Justice Hart added.
He was also satisfied that Mrs Rankin was using a nebuliser when she was attacked, which further highlighted the extent of her vulnerability.
He said that Walsh had shown no remorse and still protested her innocence. He referred to a pre-trial psychiatric assessment of Walsh in February by consultant psychiatrist Dr Helen Harbinson which mentioned “a brief psychotic episode” she suffered in April 2008, with references also to “heavy drinking prior to that”.
The judge added: “However, the defendant denied the offence and Dr Harbinson felt unable to reach a diagnosis with confidence, not least because she found the defendant to be ‘guarded, suspicious and defensive’. ’’
“She recommended a period of assessment in hospital and the defendant was later examined on her own behalf by Dr Christine Kennedy, another consultant psychiatrist, but that report has not been disclosed to the court or to the prosecution.
“The defendant is legally entitled to adopt such a course but it means that the court has very limited psychiatric material before it that casts light on why the defendant behaved in this way.”
Mr Justice Hart also referred to a pre-sentencing report which did “not throw any further light on the defendant’s conduct but expresses the opinion that the defendant poses ‘a significant risk of harm to the public due to the severity of the attack combined with the vulnerability and frailty of the victim’.”
Mr Justice Hart noted how in the victim impact statements, one of her eight children, Áine, referred to Mrs Rankin as the “matriarch of a hugely extended family” who was generous and trustworthy and who died “because somebody manipulated that trust”. Yesterday, and for most days of the 10 days of the trial, some 40 members of Mrs Rankin’s extended family including her children and sisters, Annie and Claire, attended the hearings.
Outside the court yesterday Mrs Rankin’s eldest daughter, Emily, on behalf of the family welcomed the sentence.
“It is now the responsibility of the justice system to ensure that Karen Walsh is kept in custody and that society is protected from this very dangerous woman,” Ms Rankin said.
