A woman has gone on trial accused of murdering two men and dumping their bodies on an island that straddles the borders of counties Cavan, Meath and Westmeath.
45-year-old Ruth Lawrence, from Clontarf in Dublin, denies murdering Eoin O'Connor and Anthony Keegan, sometime between the 22nd of April and the 26th of May 2014.
On the 26th of May 2014, gardai found the bodies of Eoin O'Connor and Anthony Keegan on Inchicup Island on Lough Sheelin.
They were covered in plastic sheeting and bound with rope and tape.
They’d been missing since they travelled to Ballyjamesduff in Co Cavan the previous month to meet with Ruth Lawrence’s boyfriend, a South African man called Neville Van der Westhuizen who owed Mr O’Connor a considerable drug debt. It is the prosecution’s case that Ms Lawrence shot Mr O’Connor.
Prosecuting barrister, Michael O'Higgins SC, said it doesn’t appear to have been immediately fatal, but was quickly followed up by a shot fired by her boyfriend.
In relation to Mr Keegan, Mr O’Higgins SC told the jury that Mr Van der Westhuizen shot him; but because they’re accused of acting as a team, Ms Lawrence has also been charged with his murder. She denies the allegations.
