Abigail Rieley

Writer and Author

Tag: Ronald McManus (Page 4 of 4)

Demons, Ghosts & An Egyptian Queen

23rd April 2009 / / 0 Comments

There were times, sitting in Court 2 today, that it felt as if I’d wandered into an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Evidence in a murder trial can often be dramatic but it’s rare to hear about demon slayers and reincarnated lovers, especially before lunch.

Ronald McManus, known to most witnesses as Ronnie Dunbar, sat quietly as his ex girlfriend Angelique Sheridan (formerly Dubois) recounted the most sensational evidence to come so far in trial.  He denies murdering 14-year-old Melissa Mahon and also threatening to kill his daughter Samantha.

Angelique Sheridan explained that she had met Dunbar in Sligo Post Office in the summer of 2006.  They struck up a conversation waiting in the queue , then went about their separate business.

Angelique was sitting with her daughter in McDonald’s when one of Dunbar’s daughters came in and handed her Dunbar’s phone number on a scrap of paper.  A few days later she called him and they arranged to go out.  She got dressed up, expecting to be wined and dined, but Ronnie arrived at her flat with his two younger daughters in tow and the four of them went for a spin to enjoy the summers evening.

On the way back they stopped in Lidl to get a couple of bottles of wine for Angelique and pizzas for the kids.  She told they court they were just having a nice evening together.  The Dunbar family left at around midnight.  From that day Ronnie and Angelique were an item.

Over the next few weeks they were practically inseparable.  She found him a very attentive partner “a gentleman”.  Angelique had also formed a close bond with Ronnie’s youngest daughter (who can’t be named for legal reasons).  She was “quite clingy” from that very first meeting, Angelique told the court, and it soon became a normal occurrence for the girl to stay over with Angelique.

It wasn’t surprising then that Ronnie talked to her about the 14-year-old girl who was hanging around his house.  Angelique said Ronnie had told her that he was worried about Melissa.  “He told me a young girl had come to him and told him she was being abused by her father and beaten by her mother and she had asked him for his protection.”

Angelique agreed to meet Melissa which she did at a picnic with her own daughter, Ronnies two girls, Ronnie and Melissa.  Melissa was quiet and withdrawn.  Ronnie was preoccupied with the girls and not his usual attentive self.

When Melisssa ran away from home on April 4th 2006.  Ronnie told Angelique that Melissa was staying with him.  She told the court that he told her he couldn’t tell the authorites where Melissa was because she hadn’t yet made a statement about the abuse she was suffering at home and would be sent straight back to her parents if he handed her in.

Angelique agreed to drive Melissa to a meeting with a social worker that was to take place at Slish Woods in County Sligo.  Ronnie arrived at Angelique flat with two of his daughters the night before the meeting.  Melissa was in the boot of the car hidden under a red tartan rug.

It was that night, while she talked to the girls after Ronnie had popped out for a while, that she things that threw her into a state of confusion.  She told the court that Melissa told her she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra and Ronnie was her reincarnated king.  Angelique said Ronnie’s daughter Samantha told her she could see ghosts and her father would protect her from them by catching them in his tattoos.

“One minute I had a normal boyfriend then I had a boyfriend who was a demon fighter.”  Angelique said this news worried her and she realised that Melissa needed serious professional help.

The next day she watched from the top of a nearby hill while Melissa met with the social worker Ronnie had brought with him.  After they’d left she came down from her hiding place and took Melissa home.

Angelique said the girls told her stuff that deeply disturbed her.  Ronnie’s younger daughter told her Melissa was three months pregnant by her father but it was Ronnie himself who dropped the biggest bombshell, she told the court.

Melissa was once again the topic of conversation some weeks later when Ronnie was round at her flat with his elder daughter Shirley.  Angelique said she knew that Melissa was still staying with Ronnie and had told him he would get into trouble for not telling the authorities.  She said Shirley agreed with her and told him he would go to prison.  Angelique told the court that Ronnie then said he would kill the girl before he would go to jail.  She said that he had said he had a plan and would strangle Melissa if he had to.

Ms Sheridan disagreed that this was simply a figment of her imagination and said she had not believed it so she hadn’t mentioned it to gardai when she told them she had taken Melissa to the meeting with the social worker.  She regretted it now, she said, she might have stopped it happening if she’d spoken sooner.

The Only Person Who Cared For Her?

22nd April 2009 / / 1 Comment

Melissa Mahon was a lonely child.  She had a volatile homelife, was failing in school and had fallen in with the wrong crowd.  The only person she felt truly cared for her was the man she referred to as her father and whose family she wanted to be a part of instead of her own, the man who is now on trial for killing her.

Ronald McManus, constantly referred to in court as Ronnie Dunbar, denies murdering 14-year-old Melissa some time in late September 2006 in somewhere in County Sligo.  He also denies threatening to kill or seriously injure his daughter Samantha.

Melissa Mahon was undoubtedly a troubled teen.  Listening to her social worker, Catherine Farrelly detail her interaction with the vulnerable youngster it’s hard not to see a tragedy waiting round the corner.  Melissa was a frequent runaway, sneaking out of the living room window of her home in the Rathbraughan estate in Sligo Town.  She usually didn’t go far, just to the Dunbar’s house a few minutes walk away.  By the time the HSE got involved with her case in March 2006 she had already become friendly with two of Dunbar’s daughters.

That summer she was an almost daily visitor to their house.  In August Ms Farrelly learnt, on coming back from holiday, that Melissa’s family hadn’t heard from her in a couple of weeks.  Melissa’s mother told her that the girl was probably just round in Dunbars and would come home in her own good time, but after more than two weeks the gardai were now involved and presumptions were no longer enough.

Ms Farrelly told the court that she had called to Dunbar’s house after going with Mrs Mahon to the garda station in Sligo.  Ronnie Dunbar was there and told her he had no idea where Melissa was.  He said he was worried about her and would make inquiries to see if she could be found.  Ms Farrelly said that Dunbar’s concern was obvious.  “He described her as a very hurt and very frightened human being and he questioned why the authorities hadn’t looked for her earlier.”

A few days later Dunbar rang Ms Farrelly to tell her that he had made phone contact with Melissa and he would try and get her to get in touch.  He quickly became the only link the HSE had with the missing Melissa.  He arranged a meeting in Slish Wood and once there helped the social worker to persuade Melissa to agree to admittance to the residential care home, Lios Na nOg.

Melissa was vehemently against going into care.  There wasn’t much of an option since she was alleging that her father had sexually abused her and her mother beat her.  Melissa said wanted to stay with the people she was staying with, she said, or with the Dunbars.  Catherine Farrelly told the court today that Dunbar wasn’t keen on the idea of Melissa coming to live with him.  He had not been going out with his partner for long enough to move another teenager into the house.

Eventually it was agreed but Melissa was not good at cooperating with the staff at Lios Na nOg.  She was scared and disturbed by her situation and leaned heavily on the Dunbar family for support.  She repeatedly went back to the Dunbar house.  Eventually, one week before her final disappearance, the HSE went to Sligo District Court and obtained a court order prohibiting contact between Melissa and Ronnie Dunbar.  She simply wasn’t settling in and her continuing closeness with the other family was preventing her from doing so.

But cut off from her friends, Melissa’s behaviour worsened.  She simply wasn’t settling into Lios Na nOg.  It was decided that she would be better off in temprary foster care but she ran away in her bare feet after a few hours in the foster family’s home.  She was caught sniffing lighter gas and, on the night before she disappeared, she had to be brought back to the care home by gardai.  She was found in a house in the Cartron area of Sligo Town with another girl from the house.  There were guys present and both girls had been drinking.

Ms Farrelly told the court that Melissa had cut herself that night with a broken piece of glass in protest at being taken away from the house in Cartron.

The following day, once things had calmed down, Ms Farrelly arranged to meet Melissa again.  She brought her into town to get fresh clothes in Dunnes Stores and then brought her back to the Markievicz House Health Centre to get changed.  It had been agreed that Melissa would make another go of foster care but, while Ms Farrelly called the foster family, Melissa made her get away.  She was later seen making her way towards the Rathbraughan Estate.  That was the last time anyone from the HSE saw her.

A Lost Little Girl

21st April 2009 / / 1 Comment

Melissa Mahon’s bones were found scattered across part of the shore line at Lough Gill in County Sligo 18 months after she disappeared.  The 14-year-old went missing in mid September 2006.  On previous occassion the month before her final disappearance her parents waited over two weeks before going down to the garda station in Sligo town to report her missing.

Melissa’s parents and one of her sisters gave evidence in court today, on the first day of the trial of Ronald Dunbar (also known as McManus).  He denies murdering Melissa on an unknown date and an unknown place in September 2006.  He also denies threatening to kill one of his own daughters in a connected incident.

Melissa’s mother, Mary, told prosecuting senior council Isobel Kennedy that the last time she saw her daughter was when she turned  up to shower and change.  At the time she was staying in the Lios Na nOg residential care home in Sligo Town after making allegations of abuse against both her parents.  Mary Mahon told the court that Melissa came in and had a shower then ate dinner with the family before being picked up to go back to the care home.  That was the last time she saw her daughter.

Mary agreed that, when Melissa went missing in August 2006, she had not been unduly worried and had presumed she had gone to the home of the accused.  She had gone round and asked “Ronnie” Dunbar, the accused, if her daughter was there.  When he told her no, she returned home and rang the gardai.  However, she didn’t follow up on this phone call or go to the garda station until two and a half weeks later when she was brought down by Melissa’s social worker.

Mrs Mahon told the court she had moved back to Sligo after almost thirty years living in London.  After a few weeks her husband Frederick had moved over with the two younger girls, Melissa and Leanne.  A third daughter, Yvonne, moved over on her own some time later.

She agreed with defence counsel Brendan Greahan that several of her older children had been on the protected children’s register in the UK and three of her older daughters had been put into care.  Asked why she had refused to make a statement about her daughter’s final disappearance she snapped back “It wasn’t up to me to make a statement because she wasn’t in my care.”

She agreed that she had told gardai after Melissa’s disappearance that her daughter “had no family” and that she would beat her when she found her.  She also agreed that she had refused to give the names and contact details of relatives in England Melissa could have gone to or to say who had told her of sightings of Melissa after her disappearance.

Melissa’s father Frederick told the court that his youngest child had fallen into bad company when she made friends with two of the accused’s daughters who went to school with her at Sligo’s Mercy Convent.  He said he had not known about the allegations Melissa had made about him when she ended up in Lios Na nOg centre until after her disappearance when his wife and the social worker had told him.

Melissa’s 19-year-old sister Leanna told the court that she and Melissa used to go to the Dunbar’s house on a daily basis after becoming friendly with two of his daughters during detention at school.  Their father would take them all on “spins” around Sligo, sometimes taking them swimming at one of Sligo’s beaches, other times to places of local interest, like Queen Maeve’s tomb at Knocknarea.  She told the court it was this visit that had sparked her falling out with the Dunbar family.  She hadn’t wanted to leave so soon and the subsequent falling out had seen her refuse to enter the Dunbar house again.

Ronnie had also brought the girls to watch him play football in nearby Collooney.  Leanna said Ronnie and her sister had been very close.  She had often seen Melissa lying on top of the accused as he lay on the couch with her head on his chest.  Ronnie would often ask Melissa to rub Vaseline onto a new and raw tattoo, she told the court.  Leanna said she hadn’t thought anything of this close content at the time, although her tone suggested she had come to different conclusions since.

Leanna said that some time after Melissa’s disappearance she had been in her sister’s bedroom and had found a photograph of the accused in a red toy box that Melissa had.  Leanna said she ripped the photograph into pieces but eventually showed it to her sister Yvonne.

Months later her sister’s scattered bones would be found and eventually identified.  Over the next weeks we’ll hear the details of how they were found and what conclusions were made.  But tonight the abiding image is of a lost little girl who died far too young.

Another Week, Another Trial

20th April 2009 / / 1 Comment

The courts are back today after their Easter break today.  Court 1 was packed this morning with a jury panel big enough to fill the seven cases listed to start this week.  First weeks back always have full lists – it’s a clean slate with no hang overs from previous weeks so there’s a chance of most of the cases getting started.

I was down to cover Ronald McManus, also known as Ronald or Ronnie Dunbar.  He’s accused of the murder of teenager Melissa Mahon, whose body was recovered from Lough Gill in County Sligo after she had been missing for over 18 months.

As I said, it was a packed courtroom today.  Out of the seven cases listed to start, three of them will go ahead so three juries had to be selected. The potential jurors find seats for themselves anywhere.  The prison officers frequently have to shift unsuspecting members of the general public so that the relevant accused actually has somewhere to sit while the jury that will hear his or case is selected.  It can be a long process.

When you’ve sat through numerous Mondays you get used to the way things work.  You know the exact phrases that will be used by the judge, the common excuses that will be trotted out by those anxious to avoid doing their civic duty.  Those of us who work in the courts aren’t allowed to sit on juries.  Probably wise I suppose.  You do tend to get rather jaundiced when you’ve been there long enough for one trial to start blending into another.

First of all the Registrar will call out twenty or so names from the panel and wait until they manage to fight their way up to the jury box.  Then one by one they are called to take the Bible in their right hand and swear to try the case according to the evidence.  The Prosecution and the Defence both have seven chances to veto a juror without having to give a reason then any number of vetos as long as they have a reason for each one.  Jurors can also ask to be excused and it’s up to the judge’s discretion, usually Mr Justice Paul Carney, whether that’s granted.

Normally if they have holidays booked or important meetings or hospital appointments coming up they will be let go.  The self-employed are off the hook as well as is anyone who has a pivotal role in a small company but it is after all, an employers responsibility to give the workers the paid time off.  This morning, the first jury was selected without a hitch.

The trial of a man accused of the murder of another man in Mountjoy Prison, it’s only expected to take a day or two so there weren’t any issues with time conflicts.  Twelve names were called out of the twenty and each one of them was sworn in.  Once all were sworn they were sent off to a different courtroom for the trial to get underway.

The next jury was for the McManus trial.  Dressed in a black t-shirt with navy blue tracksuit bottoms he came into court clutching a red and blue striped plastic bag.  He’s charged with murdering Melissa Mahon somewhere in Sligo County some time in late September 2006.  He’s also charged with making threats to kill another woman.  He answered not guilty to both charges.

The Registrar called out the first round of names.  Justice Carney warned them they could be stuck in the court for a month.  The excuses started coming thick and fast.

A lot of people were going on holiday in May.  I’m jealous, but then I get paid to sit in court – they don’t (exactly).  Several claimed reduced recessionary workforces as their reason for crying off.  They were let go.  Then came the stockbroker.  He stood up when his name was called, all pin-striped suit and metal-rimmed glasses.  His accent was what my gran used to call “too, too terribly bay window” (posh and I have no idea where the phrase comes from).  He informed the judge the markets were simply too volatile at the moment.  There was no way he could stay away from his duties for the amount of time required.

Judge Paul Carney was not impressed.  He’d heard that excuse before from other stock brokers and hadn’t given into them either he informed the unfortunate broker who could obviously see long weeks of jury duty materialising before his eyes.  He gave it one more go though.  His individual clients would suffer, he told the judge.  If he wasn’t there to manage their money it would go unmanaged.  Nothing doing from the judge though.  The courts only sat for four hours a day he was told.  There were plenty more hours to deal with his clients.

Pin-stripe suit man didn’t win.  Even after he’d sworn himself in he looked as if he was itching to jump up and argue his corner some more.  Every time another self employed person was excused after him his eyebrows twitched and his lips got thinner as he fought a reaction.  He was looking rather pink in the face as the jury took shape and time and again people escaped for work related reasons.

He’ll have tonight to get over it though.  The trial will start tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and we’ll all have plenty of time to get familiar with one another over the next few weeks.

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