Episode 129: The thing about murder in Ireland

When Ashling Murphy was attacked and killed in broad daylight by a stranger on a well-used path in Tullamore, Ireland, shock and anger reverberated across the small country. Her murder renewed vows that attitudes toward women in Ireland had to change.

But where’s the same outcry when women and children are killed by a man who isn’t a stranger? You might well ask Miriam Burns, killed in Killarney in August, or Lisa Cash, 18, and her siblings, twins Chelsea and Christy Crawley, killed in Dublin in September. Or all the other victims of domestic violence in Ireland.

Ireland isn’t that much different that many other countries, with the exception that its homicide rate is very low. But with domestic violence leading to more than half of Ireland’s murders, we look at the disconnect between murders like Murphy’s and the majority of others.

We also have updates on Episode 127, missing Jill Sidebotham and Lydia Hansen; and episode 123, Sophie Sergei’s murder.

And Rebecca gives the NNW treatment to the Netflix doc “I Killed My Father.”

Thanks for your patience during our absense! Vacation morphed into technial difficulties. We’re glad to be back.