Clonmel Man guilty of murder of father of two

John Hannigan of River House New Quay has been convicted of the murder of Anthony Fallon – also a father of two- in the South Tipp Town in January 2012.
The 46 year old was also found guilty of assault causing harm to the victim on the same date at Mr Fallon flat. Following a two week trial the jury of 8 men and 4 women returned the unanimous guilty verdicts after four hours of deliberations.

A post-mortem found the 46 year old – who was also known as Elvis – had 31 separate fractures to his ribs and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head and trunk.He was assaulted by Mr Hannigan and another man Joseph O' Riordan during a night's drinking at the deceased flat and was then subject to a further violent attack by John Hannigan.

The court heard that the 46 year old's parents were both outstanding members of the community in the rural area that they lived and that Hannigan suffered from adjustment disorder and had alcoholic tendencies.

During an emotional victim impact statement Mr Fallon's wife Elma described her husband's injuries as outrageous and shocking and that the stress of having to identify him in his horrific state would leave her and other family members with emotional and psychological scars.

She expressed her relief that justice had been done and hoped both John Hannigan and Joseph O' Riordan would serve their prison time with the knowledge and guilty of the loss, heartache, distress and grief they had caused and that her family could not forgive either man.

Both families of the deceased and the accused sobbed as Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence