LAST UPDATE | 19 Mar

A MAN WHO killed his partner in a “frenzied attack” and then partially amputated her left arm before setting fire to their home in a bid to conceal his crime has been jailed for life.

Adam Corcoran (31) was today found guilty by unanimous verdict of the murder of his partner of ten years, Daena Walsh, at their apartment in John Barry House in Connolly Street in Midleton, Co Cork on 2 August 2024.

A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork also found him guilty of starting a fire at the property on the date.

They had heard evidence that aerosol cans had been placed on a ring of the cooker which was then turned on. Corcoran received a 15-year concurrent sentence for this offence.

Daena Walsh was originally from Roundwood in Co Wicklow. She was the only daughter of Caroline and grew up alongside four brothers. She was also the mother of two young sons.

Today, her younger brother Callum Walsh said that Daena was a caring mother who meant everything to her children.

He said that Adam Corcoran showed “no mercy” to the mother of his children, whom he killed in a “demonic and savage attack.”

In a powerful victim impact statement, Mr Walsh said that Corcoran had denied Daena the opportunity of watching her beloved sons grow up.

He told the court: “She will never be there for their birthdays, their First Holy Communion, their Confirmation, their Junior Cert and Leaving Cert, or the many achievements and moments that mothers treasure as their children grow. She will never see them learn to drive, graduate, or build their futures.

These are moments every mother deserves to share with her children, and that future has been taken from them forever.

Mr Walsh also spoke of the “profound impact” the murder has had on the family

“One of the most difficult consequences has been the effect on our ability to sleep. Many of us experience ongoing sleep loss and disturbed nights, often lying awake thinking about what happened and feeling anxious and unsettled,” he said. 

“There will always be an empty space in our home and in our lives – a sense that something precious is missing that can never be replaced. The day-to-day impact of this loss means life will never truly return to the normality we once knew.”

He said that Daena was a “loving mother, daughter, sister and friend.”

“She was well known for her coloured hair and mad lipstick colours. She was a thoughtful, kind, and caring person whose life was taken from her in a cruel and violent way.”

The young man read his own statement in to the record. He was supported by his older brother Paul, who held a framed picture of Daena. At a funeral mass in Wicklow in August 2024, Paul had called Daena a “one in a million sister” who had a “heart of gold.”

Meanwhile, Adam Corcoran expressed his “deep remorse” to his sons and to Daena’s family via his defence barrister Brendan Grehan.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said that Corcoran had left his children “without a mother for eternity”.

She stated that Corcoran, who has 42 previous convictions, had killed Daena in a “truly horrific manner” and then claimed that she had died by suicide.

Ms Justice Lankford said it was clear from her defensive wounds that the victim had “fought for her life.”

She noted that Corcoran had also attempted to amputate Daena Walsh’s left arm after her death before then opting to set fire to the apartment in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Daena Walsh suffered 51 injuries to her face, neck, chest, abdomen and limbs. One of the wounds to her chest was 11.5 centimetres deep. It had penetrated through her sternum and some of her clothing had lodged in the bone. A bead from jewellery in the shape of a star was also embedded in the bone.

State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney had told the jury that no soot or debris was found in the airways of Daena Walsh at postmortem. This meant that she was dead when the fire was started.

McCartney indicated that a number of the stab wounds were independently fatal. In particularly, she referenced a cluster of wounds over Daena Walsh’s heart, four of which had pierced the right atrium. Four wounds had punctured her lungs and another had punctured her aorta.

The victim also had a partially amputated left arm.

Adam Corcoran had called the emergency services claiming that his partner, and the mother of his two children, had stabbed herself. He told gardaí that she was his “soulmate” and that he planned to marry her and buy a house with her.

Corcoran had opted to give evidence for the defence.

Whilst under cross-examination, he admitted: “Yes, I killed her, yes.” He also accepted that it was not in self-defence.

He was asked why he told the operator who answered his 999 call that Daena Walsh had attempted suicide. He said that is what he believed at the time. He said that at that point, he “didn’t know what had happened.”

Corcoran said that it took him a “period of time” of “months” for him to remember what had happened.

He said that he and Daena Walsh had two children together and that he loved her. However, he stated that they both had issues with substance abuse with their using being “non-stop” in the last fortnight of Daena’s life.

In her charge to the jury Justice Lankford said that two verdicts were open to the jury on the most serious charge – guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The judge said a verdict of not guilty of murder was not open to the jury given that Corcoran has said he killed Daena Walsh.