Richard Burke jailed for 14 years for killing of Jasmine McMonagle

A man who previously threatened to kill his on-off partner before strangling her to death during a psychotic episode after taking unprescribed drugs has been jailed for 14 years.

Mr Justice Paul Burns today passed sentence on Richard Burke who was found not guilty of murdering Jasmine McMonagle but guilty of her manslaughter earlier this year. The court heard that his responsibility for the killing was substantially diminished by a mental disorder. One of the doctors noted that the disorder "may have been triggered or exacerbated" by drug use.

Mr Justice Burns said that despite his condition, Burke knew that what he was doing was wrong, understood the nature of what he was doing and he could have stopped himself.

He said that Burke "must bear a considerable degree of responsibility" for the crime. The judge noted the level of violence used against a defenceless woman that included the use of weapons. He also took into account that the victim was at home with her two children at the time.

This was not the first time he was aggressive towards Ms McMonagle, the judge said, noting four other occasions where she expressed fear for her safety. There was also evidence that Burke had previously used disparaging terms to refer to Ms McMonagle and said on different occasions that he would bury her, throw her in front of a bus, "kill the bitch" and indicated that he wanted to strangle her.

The deceased, the judge said, was highly regarded in her community and much-loved by her friends and family. Her death has had a "devastating impact" on the whole family but in particular her two daughters who now live in separate homes "without the guidance of their loving mother".

Mr Justice Burns said that Burke's condition was impacted by drug and alcohol use which he "deliberately" partook in while failing to comply with his medication. In mitigation, he noted that Burke had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and in garda interviews expressed "remorse, shame, self-hate and disgust" for what he had done.

In the absence of a mental disorder the killing would have amounted to murder with a compulsory life sentence, the judge said. He set the headline at 17 years but reduced that having considered the mitigating factors.

Judge Burns imposed a sentence of 15 years with the final year suspended for five years. The sentence is backdated to January 4, 2019 when Burke first went into custody.

Prior to his release, Burke must undergo a psychiatric assessment and must comply with the medical regime put in place by doctors. He must also comply with all requirements of the probation service or he will serve the final year of the sentence.

In a statement issued to the media, Jasmine's family said "Nothing will bring back our beautiful Jasmine and all we can do now is make sure she is never forgotten." The period since her death has been "incredibly tough", they said, but to keep Jasmine's memory alive they have created the "Smile for Jasmine" pages on Facebook and Instagram. They asked people to follow them and thanked those who have supported them.

Jasmine McMonagle, (28) was found in a pool of blood in the kitchen of her home following a three-hour standoff between Burke and gardaí.

Burke (32), of Killygordon, County Donegal, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms McMonagle at Forest Park, Killygordon on January 4, 2019 but guilty to manslaughter.

At Burke's trial, sitting in Monaghan earlier this year, two psychiatrists agreed that Burke was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing which substantially diminished his responsibility.

The jury of seven women and five men had been told by Mr Justice Paul Burns that all the evidence in Burke's trial pointed to a manslaughter verdict and the jury took just over one hour to agree, with a unanimous decision.

Sentencing

At a sentencing hearing in April, the victim's mother Jacqueline McMonagle said that January 4, 2019 was the day “my world fell apart”, when Jasmine's life and future were “horrifically taken from her” by Burke.  

Jasmine’s mother became emotional as she told the court the family had all been given a life sentence of suffering and pain. She said Jasmine was a “kind and generous” person who adored and lived for her two girls.  

She told the court Jasmine had always loved spending time with her family and Christmas was a special time for them but the holiday “means nothing to me any more”.  Now Jasmine’s daughters spend Christmas at their mother's grave.

Ms McMonagle said she could not get the images out of her mind of what her daughter must have been going through the night she was killed.  

“She was a small petite girl and I think about how powerless she must have felt and how I wasn’t there to help her.”  

She said she goes “over and over” what happened and wonders if her daughter called out their names and how long she suffered before she died. The family waited four years for the trial and are all struggling to process the details of what Richard Burke did to her child, she said. “The only word that comes to mind is evil," she added.

Richard Burke’s actions have left two young children without their mother and his actions are also the reason they have had to leave their home, she said.  

“I feel traumatised and I still have difficulty believing I will never see my daughter again,” Ms McMonagle said. “The pain I feel is indescribable. I do not feel like the person I once was, I had my daughter taken from me in the most horrific way.”  

The court also heard from Ms McMonagle’s daughter, who was just 8 years old when her mother was brutally beaten and strangled to death while she was also in the house. She said Richard Burke had “ruined our lives” and she and her little sister would “never get Mammy back”.  

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl said: “I wish mammy had never ever met him. He has ruined our lives and we can never get Mammy back."

Ms McMonagle’s daughter, who is now 12, added: “I miss my Mammy so much”, and told how her mother’s loss was especially apparent around big occasions like Christmas and her birthday.  

She said she always thought Richard Burke was a bad person. He had tried to teach her mother Martial Arts, she said, but what she really needed was defending from him.  

She said she suffers from nightmares and flashbacks about what happened and finds it hard that she doesn’t live with her little sister anymore.  

In his victim impact statement, the 12-year-old’s father said his child is in constant fear Richard Burke will escape justice and will come to murder her and her little sister.  

“This animal has ruined my child’s life,” he said.  

He said since her mother’s brutal death, his daughter has had to move schools and the family decided to move away from the village where it happened. He said she has lost touch with all her old friends and has become withdrawn.  

While at school she has trouble talking to her friends about anything to do with mothers and even conversations about things children do with their mother’s, like trips to the cinema or going to the hairdressers, have become triggers for her.  

He said his daughter “thinks the world” of her little sister and the fact that they now live not only in different houses but in different counties is very hard for her. He said she stays over with her every other weekend but the two girls are “heartbroken” when they have to leave each other.  

Ms McMonagle’s sister Jenna, who has legal guardianship of Ms McMonagle’s youngest daughter, told the court Jasmine had had her life “ripped away from her” in the most brutal and insidious way possible.  

“I could call Richard Burke a monster or an animal but quite frankly that would be disrespectful to monsters and animals. Richard Burke is something else,” she said.  

In her victim impact statement, she said the family are living a “never ending nightmare” and her sister’s killing impacts every aspect of their lives. She said there is always one thing missing and that is Jasmine.  

“We thought our existence was a happy one. Never did we think we would have to face this sickening loss of grief and utter destruction,” she said. “I knew as soon as I found out Jasmine had been killed our lives had been changed forever.”  

Jenna McMonagle told the court she was 8 months pregnant on the morning gardaí arrived to say Jasmine had died.  

She said a lot of what followed was “a blur” but she knew she had to be strong for her unborn son and the two beautiful girls whose mother had been “savagely stolen away from them”.  

The story was awful and horrendous for many reasons, she said but one of the hardest parts of the story is “the two sisters torn apart” by what happened.  

She said Ms McMonagle’s youngest daughter is now trying to process things that are “unfathomable to a child” as she grows up. The little girl and her sister now live in separate houses and told how every time she has to say goodbye to her big sister “her heart is broken”, she added.  

She said because of the actions of one person, Jasmine will never get to see her two daughters grow up and she will never get to have a happy life “free from fear and pain”.  

Trial

The trial heard Gardaí attended the house in Forest Park, Killygordon following a 999 call by Ms McMonagle at 4.21am stating that she was in fear for her life. The first officers on the scene were confronted by Burke brandishing a butcher-style meat cleaver which he swung at one of the members of the force, making contact with his clothing and narrowly missing his arm.  

A garda went to the rear of the property shortly after 5am and saw Ms McMonagle's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood after he looked through a small gap in the curtains of a kitchen window.  

A trained crisis negotiator was deployed at the scene and efforts to gain access to the house continued for some time. Burke told the negotiator that there were two children up in bed and that Jasmine was "sleeping". Repeated requests were made to gain access to the house, while in the background the Armed Response Unit were being mobilised.

At 7.29am, Burke was observed leaving the kitchen and appeared to bend down under the stairs in the hall. Two minutes later, a paramedic saw a young child appear at the upstairs front window – Jasmine’s eight-year-old daughter.  

A decision was made that “immediate and forced entry” to the property was needed.

As gardaí entered the house, Burke was barricaded in the rear of the property. When he confronted the first officer with a glass breaking hammer and refused to put it down, Burke was tasered, handcuffed and searched.

A knife in a scabbard was found in his jacket along with two phones; one his own, the other the mobile phone belonging to Jasmine that had been used to make the 999 call.

Jasmine’s older daughter was found upstairs, while her younger daughter was discovered in a cot in the front room of the property. Both were uninjured.

After his arrest, Burke was brought to Letterkenny Garda Station where he was seen by a psychiatrist who deemed him fit to be interviewed. During the first of three garda interviews in the hours after, Burke made admissions that he had killed Jasmine McMonagle.

Burke said he and Jasmine had been in her kitchen listening to music when he began shouting. “I started saying you’ll see a different side of me if you don’t cop on,” he told gardaí.

Burke began to cry as he told gardaí what happened in the moments leading up to Jasmine’s death. He said he was “shouting and screaming” and was very angry after realising Jasmine had phoned gardaí while he was out of the room.

“Once I heard guards, that was the end of it,” he said.

During three garda interviews, Burke told investigating officers he “went ballistic” and started punching Ms McMonagle and strangling her with a rope. He said he was still holding the rope when gardaí knocked.  

Burke also said he hated violence towards women.
“I have a real bad temper, I just blanked I went ballistic absolutely fucking ballistic,” the killer said.    

“Because I hate guards I just went ballistic, started punching the f**k out of her then strangling her with a rope. I was only trying to make her see sense.”    

Asked how many times he had hit Ms McMonagle, the accused replied: “How long is a piece of string."

“All I remember is punching her, my mind is a pure blank, it’s like someone else took over. I remember my hand being sore. I do remember strangling her and then tap tap tap. Fuck.”

A forensic analysis of the scene suggested that most of the beating sustained by Ms McMonagle occurred in the corner of the kitchen while she was sitting crouched or on the floor.

The trial heard evidence from Dr Dearbhla Duffy, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, who said it was her view that Burke was “acutely psychotic” at the time of the offence and for a short period afterwards.  

Dr Anthony Kearns, a now retired forensic psychiatrist who formerly worked at the Central Mental Hospital, said Burke was suffering from a mental disorder that substantially diminished his responsibility for Ms McMonagle’s killing.  

The psychiatrist said the mental disorder was complicated by the accused’s use of drugs over many years.