On the afternoon of the 6th January, 2005 Robert Holohan rode his brand new silver BMX bike down his drive and out onto the roads of Ballyedmond, a townland north of Midleton in rural East Cork. When Robert didn't return home that evening, and had not answered his new phone, a search began that would bring people from all over the country to the area to volunteer to look for the 11 year old, alongside the Gardai and the army.

But, just over a week later, Roberts body was found in a deep ditch, caught up in brambles, alongside Inch Strand. He was 12 miles from his home. The Garda investigation worked quickly, and it soon became apparent that Robert had not gotten far from home, before he was killed.


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Theme Music:
Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by


Sources:
Ralph Reigel, Afraid of the Dark (Dublin: O'Brien Press, 2006) Purchase here 

Bledar Xhemali, et al “ Sudden death from Vagal Inhibition” in European Scientific Journal vo9, no 30 (October 2013) http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/viewFile/1965/1907 

Conor Galalgher, “Legal opinion: Victim Impact statement system is flawed” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/legal-opinion-victim-impact-statement-system-is-flawed-1.2373197 (9 October 2015) 

“The Wayne O'Donoghue story – In his own words” in Magill https://magill.ie/archive/wayne-odonoghue-story-his-own-words (31 January 2008) 

"Parents of Robert Holohan 'seek truth' at inquest” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/parents-of-robert-holohan-seek-truth-at-inquest-1.796308 (12 September 2006) 

“O'Donoghue freed after serving three years” from RTE.ie https://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0116/98293-holohanr/ (16 January 2008) 

Vivion Kilfeather, “Court rejects appeal against O'Donoghue jail senetnece” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/icrime/court-rejects-appeal-against-odonoghue-jail-sentence-16128.html (19 October 2006) 

“Holohan's mother vows to appeal O'Donoghue's sentence” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/holohans-mother-vows-to-appeal-odonoghue-sentence-241324.html (24 January 2006) 

Ann O'Loughlin, “Allegations in victim impact statement were totally false, says counsel” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/allegations-in-victim-statement-were-totally-false-says-counsel-26376751.html (28 July 2006) 

“Sentence objective 'totally frustrated' by Majella” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/sentencing-objective-totally-frustrated-by-majella-26324171.html (11 October 2007) 

Director of Public Prosecutions -v- O'Donoghue [2006] IECCA 134 available here: http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/bce24a8184816f1580256ef30048ca50/199d98ef9ccbd3398025720b004d2bf7?OpenDocument 

Ralph Riegel, “Family appalled as child-killer Wayne's new life revealed” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/family-appalled-as-childkiller-waynes-new-life-is-revealed-26582412.html (16 November 2009) 

Ballyedmond Townland https://www.townlands.ie/cork/barrymore/templenacarriga/templenacarriga/ballyedmond/