February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
He is charged with killing Robert Holohan, whose body was discovered last Wednesday in a field near Inch Strand, East Cork — 12 miles from his home in Ballyedmond. He had died of asphyxiation and a black bag had been placed over his head. The discovery came more than a week after his disappearance. He had left home on a bicycle, which was later found left neatly at a roadside not far from his home.
“I have nothing to say,” O’Donoghue said after he was charged.
Dressed in a blue suit and tie, O’Donoghue kept his head bowed for the duration of the sitting and made no comment. He was accompanied to the court by his mother and father and their two younger sons.
As O’Donoghue was escorted from the court, he was subjected to some verbal abuse from a crowd that had gathered outside. He was guarded by about 50 plain-clothed and uniformed garda officers before being taken to prison.
O’Donoghue had undergone lengthy questioning from officers after voluntarily coming forward. Gardai interviewed him for 10 hours in the presence of his parents at their home. He was then arrested and taken to Midleton garda station in an unmarked car for further questioning.
The man’s solicitor confirmed that he had been interviewed after making approaches to the gardai.
“That contact resulted in an invitation by the accused to members of An Garda Siochana to attend at his home, where he agreed to submit to a voluntary process of interview in relation to the matter under investigation,” Frank Buttimer said.
The news of the killing shocked the small community last week. Many local people had taken part in a search operation following Robert’s disappearance. Gardai tracked down the location of Robert’s body by collating signals from his mobile phone.