Marcus O’Neill (36) formerly of 15 O’Brien Street, Waterford, has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Tramore woman Gillian Curran.
The sentence was handed down at a hearing before Ms. Justice Caroline Biggs at the Criminal Courts of Justice, Dublin today (Monday 12 October).
O’Neill had been convicted of murdering Ms. Curran following a three-week trial held in Waterford throughout July 2026. The jury of seven women and five men in the trial deliberated for a total of 12 hours across three days before returning a majority 10-2 verdict of guilty.
O’Neill had denied murdering Ms. Curran, who was his partner at the time, after she was found unresponsive at his home at 15 O’Brien Street, Waterford City, on 25 January 2025.
He claimed that she had fallen a number of times the night before when they were drinking together at the house, and he found her on the ground of the living room when he woke up and came downstairs.
He was represented during the trial by Roisin Lacey SC and Tom Giles Kelly BL, instructed by solicitor Derrick Connors. Conor O’Doherty SC and Niall Storan BL acted as prosecuting counsel on behalf of the state.
At today’s sentence hearing, Detective Sergeant Mick Bourke agreed with Prosecuting barrister Conor O’Doherty SC that evidence presented in the trial suggested the relationship between O’Neill and Ms. Curran was “volatile and abusive.”
During the trial, the jury heard evidence from State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers, who stated that from conducting a post-mortem on Ms. Curran, she found her cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma injuries to her head and abdomen, which were ‘most consistent’ with a ‘sustained’ assault.
The pathologist said Ms. Curran sustained 143 external injuries, such as bruises and abrasions, to her body, as well as several internal injuries such as a perforation of her small bowel and a laceration to her right kidney.
Sgt Bourke confirmed to Mr. O’Doherty that this evidence was heard during the trial.
Members of Ms. Curran’s family were present for the hearing, and a victim impact statement was delivered on their behalf by her brother Michael.
Mr. Curran told the court that his sister was an “intelligent, loving and vivacious” woman, and is “deeply missed” by all of her family. He stated that “she did not deserve her violent end” and described how O’Neill’s “complete lack of remorse and responsibility” throughout the trial was “beyond evil.”
Ms. Justice Biggs thanked Ms. Curran’s family for providing insight into the “clever and kind” woman that she was, which was ‘entirely consistent’ with what was heard during the trial. The judge stated that O’Neill “brutally beat” Ms. Curran to death, which meant she was “almost entirely covered in one injury or another.”
Ms. Justice Biggs noted that the court has ‘no discretion’ with a murder sentence, and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment on O’Neill, which will be backdated to when he first went into custody on 26 January 2025.
Read the full story in this week’s edition of The Munster Express.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
Robyn Power
