Investigations into the Dalkey “house of horrors” case have been reopened and will examine claims that a pedophile ring, led by Gardai, used their influence to hinder scrutiny of their activities.
In 1995, the Dalkey case was reopened when Cynthia Owens revealed that she was the mother of an unidentified baby found in an alleyway in Dun Laoghaire 40 years ago. Owens proceeded to tell the police how she was repeatedly raped by her father, Peter Murphy, and sold for sex to 12 men, three of whom were members of the Gardai. In 2005, all of these men were questioned but denied the allegations against them. Among the 12 men named by Cynthia, six are now dead.
Cynthia Owens, who survived the Dalkey “house of horrors”, was the victim of her parents abuse and bore her father’s child when she was only 11-years-old. She recently held a memorial service for the child who was stabbed to death by her mother with a knitting needle and was found in a bin bag in an alleyway in the town of Dun Laoghaire, the Irish Independent reports. The baby was posthumously named Noleen by her mother and would have been 40 years old at the time of her memorial service on April 4 2013.
The inquiry into Noleen’s murder was carried out by senior counsel Patrick Gageby following the inquest. During the inquest, Independent.ie reports that "most of the surrounding documents and exhibits, some time after that date, were lost or mislaid." The missing evidence included blood samples, the bin bag in which the baby was found, blood-stained sanitary towels, a newspaper found with the baby's body and the knitting needle which was used to kill the infant.
The Dalkey “house of horrors” investigation has been reopened alongside the case review regarding the pedophile Irish language activist, Domhnall O Lubhlai, who managed to evade imprisonment during almost 50 years of abusing boys.
The Irish TV host and founder of Colaiste na bhFiann died in March 2013 at the age of 84. His crimes were only revealed in the 1990s but O’Lubhlai maintained he was innocent until his death.
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