Parents remain haunted by death of only child in Co Cork assault

A couple have told how they remain haunted by the death of their only child in a violent assault in 2022.

Pat and Eileen O’Neill lost their son Matt (29) when he suffered traumatic brain injuries after he was assaulted by Ricardo Hoey (21) and Jordan Deasy (20) as he was walking home to Glenwood Estate in Carrigaline, Co Cork, on December 28th, 2022.

Hoey of Ardcarrig, Carrigaline, and Deasy of Ravensdale, Heron’s Wood, Carrigaline, were acquitted last month of the murder of Mr O’Neill but found guilty of his manslaughter following a trial at the Central Criminal Court. They were remanded to this week for sentence.

On Thursday Pat O’Neill outlined in court the impact the manslaughter of their son had on himself and his wife in a victim impact statement.

He recalled how Matt, who was born in Brisbane, Australia, loved water sports and could swim before he could walk and how as a family, the three of them would surf, climb, kayak and camp together, forming an inseparable bond.

“On a cold wet winter Saturday or Sunday, Matt would be the one waking up early and insisting we go out and do some activity,” said Mr O’Neill.

He said Matt had been involved in several rescues in his lifetime including once when they were surfing on a beach in Kerry and six people got into difficulty. While he (Mr O’Neill) was trying to get three people to shore, Matt went to the assistance of the other three.

“He gave two of them his surfboard to stay afloat – he brought the third one in, and he was in a very serious condition – the Coast Guard helicopter took him from the beach to hospital – Matt’s actions saved that man’s life – Matt was 13 years old at the time.

“Even now, he had gone on to save a further three lives by donating his organs which were successfully transplanted,” said Mr O’Neill, who described his son as “tall and handsome and having a quiet and pleasant disposition and … a kind and gentle soul”.

Mr O’Neill recalled how he and his wife were with Matt as he lay lifeless and bleeding on the street on the night he was attacked, surrounded by people trying to save his life, and they remain haunted by those images and “the thought of the lonely terror and pain he must have felt”.

“When Matt’s life support was turned off [on January 8th, 2023] – it was 29 minutes before he passed – a minute for every year of his life – we held his hand – it was 29 minutes of heartbreaking sadness that no parent should every have to experience and this trauma will never leave us.”

He added: “Matt was our only child – his name was in my phone as ‘Body and Soul’ and that’s what he was – ‘our body and soul’ – we lost our whole family that day and now there is just an empty sorrow and sadness.”

Mr O’Neill said his son had “difficulties in recent years but where there’s life, there’s hope and we never lost hope or love for Matt but that hope and any chance for his future has been taken away from us by a mindless, senseless, cowardly act with no respect for life”.

During the hearing Det Gda Brid Norris outlined the circumstances of the fatal assault when Hoey and Deasy found Mr O’Neill intoxicated, standing in front of their car with a bottle of wine in his hand, and when he didn’t move out their way, they got out and confronted him.

One of them pushed him and he fell to the ground in a sitting position and Deasy punched him twice and he fell back on his elbows where Hoey kicked him once in the head, and the assault, which lasted less than a minute, left Mr O’Neill lying bleeding and unconscious on the ground.

During the trial, Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster told how she carried out an autopsy on January 9th, 2023, and said Mr O’Neill’s fatal injuries resulted from blunt force trauma to the head, “which was consistent with a combination of blows and a fall”.

Defence counsel Tom Creed SC, for Hoey, and Brendan Grehan SC, for Deasy, pleaded for leniency, pointing out both defendants had offered pleas of manslaughter in the case but the DPP had not accepted them only for the jury to acquit both of the murder charge and convict them of manslaughter.

Mr Creed said his client had no previous convictions and had expressed remorse for what had happened while Mr Grehan said his client, who had a previous conviction for assault causing harm and violent disorder, was only 18 at the time and had also expressed regret for his actions.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said she needed time to consider everything she had heard and she adjourned sentencing to July 31st.