A Cork man has been found guilty of murder after jurors spent more than ten hours weighing up the evidence against him.
Daniel Hourigan, aged 33, was convicted of the murder of Michael Foley, who was killed at his home in Macroom, Co Cork. The jury returned their verdict after lengthy deliberations that stretched well past the ten-hour mark, reflecting the weight of the case before them.
The trial gripped the local community in Macroom, a town in the west of Cork that is no stranger to close-knit community bonds. The killing of Michael Foley at his own home made the case particularly disturbing for those who knew him and for the wider area.
Hourigan now faces a mandatory life sentence, which is the automatic punishment for anyone convicted of murder in Ireland. There is no discretion for a judge when it comes to sentencing in murder cases under Irish law, meaning Hourigan will be handed that sentence when he appears before the court for sentencing.
The case went through the full trial process at the Central Criminal Court, with jurors carefully considering all the evidence presented to them by both the prosecution and defence before reaching their guilty verdict.
For the Foley family, the conviction brings a measure of justice after what has been an incredibly painful period. Losing a loved one to violence is devastating under any circumstances, but having to sit through a lengthy murder trial reliving the details of that loss makes the process an enormous burden for families to carry.
Macroom locals had been following the case closely since the killing, and the guilty verdict will bring some sense of closure to a community that was shaken by the violent death of one of their own in his own home.
Hourigan is due to be sentenced following the conviction.