The tragedy of a young life being cut short, hopes and dreams dashed was crystalised this week on TG4 when Stephen Walsh recalled how his sister Ann had just received her first passport ahead of a trip to Spain, but the photograph ended up adorning her headstone instead after she was murdered.
On Wednesday, August 24, 2005, three days before flying out to Spain for the first time in her life, the 23-year-old was getting ready for a final night out before this holiday.
Stephen recalled it was Ann’s first passport.
“Ann never had a passport before. Her passport picture ended up on her headstone.”
Stephen’s mother, also named Ann, recalled speaking to her daughter on the phone that day and the last word she told her was “I will see you later Ma”, but she never saw her alive again.
When Stephen saw Ann and Raymond outside the door of Crotty’s Kilrush, he entered the premises and found him sitting at the bar.
“I asked him where my sister was. He told me she was gone to the toilet. When I met Ann at the hallway near the toilets I said ‘daddy would not be happy to see you with him again’.”
“She said all we are doing is having one drink and are only talking. I remember her giving me €10 because I was going to an underage disco in Kilkee with a few friends.”
Journalist, Sinéad Ní Uallacháin said according to a witness who was working in Crotty’s bar that night, it seemed Ann and Raymond were together and maybe they could be in a relationship. The witness said they were kissing and hugging.
Clíona Saidléar, Director of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, said it is very common for victims to keep going back to their abuser.
“The reason why people go back is because the abuse is going on over a long period and its psychological abuse.
“One of the reasons that women go back again and again is because of the threat. They are afraid because the threat is always there. We know it is dangerous when women have someone who is abusing them. We know it is very dangerous, so maybe they go back out of fear and that can happen again and again.”
Garda Call
At 1.05 am, the Walsh family heard a knock on the door. Ann Walsh recalled the gardai asked her could they come in.
“I said ‘what is wrong? They said where is your husband? I said he is in bed. He came straight out when he heard the gardai. Stephen was upstairs.”
Stephen recalled they were told that Ann was involved in an accident.
“At that point, I ran down the stairs, my father was out. They turned around and said Ann was dead and that Raymond Donovan had killed her at the back of the church.”
“When they told us, I was numb. I went with my father in the car to my sister’s house (Mary) to tell her.”
At about 1.40 am, Mary Walsh recalled she heard a knock on her front door where her father and brother were outside her house.
“Stephen said ‘Mary, Ann is dead, Raymond Donovan is after killing her’. I never forget the feeling in my body. It was like the blood rushed from my head out through my toes.
“My first words were ‘how will I live without her’. I will never forget it, it is something that sticks with me always. I was heartbroken.
“From then on it was like my life was put on pause. Now I can look back and say this happened and that happened.
The Walsh family learned that Ann and Raymond had left Crotty’s together around 9.30pm before they had an argument on the street.
Ann said she spoke to her daughter about her relationship with Raymond Donovan several times.
“She thought she was in love, but look at what he did to her. Ann wasn’t streetwise.
Close Family
Stephen recalled there was five in the Walsh household his parents, sister, Ann and sister, Mary.
“Kilrush is a small town where everyone knows each other. Growing up we were always close. I was the younger of the three. Ann was the oldest, Mary was next and then myself. The three of us would always be together.
“When Ann moved out of home I used go over to her and she would always be giving me money. She was good.
“Ann was very clever at school. But she wasn’t streetwise. She was so innocent you could be doing anything and she wouldn’t know what you were doing. She was made for hair and make up and wanted to become a hairdresser.
“Ann could have a drink in front of her for two hours while she would be talking to ten or twelve people. Everyone knew her. She would stop and talk to anyone.
“She was always smiling, mad for the bit of craic and laughing. She was very down to earth.”
In her younger days, Mary remembered things were different. They enjoyed playing plastics and marbles outside.
“Growing up we hadn’t all the top brands but we had enough, we had love and each other.
“Ann could talk to the Pope. She would talk and talk, but had a heart of gold. She would talk to anyone.”
“She saw danger and fear nowhere. She loved anyone. She saw good in people. If we saw bad, she wouldn’t.”
Mary recalled her sister met Raymond Donovan at a carnival in Kilrush where he was working at the time when she was between 20 and 21 years of age.
Stephen admitted the family “never took to Raymond” as he had a strange look about himself.
Distant
Once the relationship started, Mary said Ann became very distant and was afraid of him as if she wanted to go out socially, she always had to ask his permission.
“He was very jealous. Ann held a lot. Ann was very closed when it came to talking about herself and Raymond. Ann knew he wasn’t being good to her.
“It was like Ann didn’t want us to know what he was like because she wanted to be with him.
“If we knew what Raymond was like, we would be pushing her away from him. I don’t think she wanted that.
“I believe he got into Ann’s brain. When a woman thinks she loves a man, he reels her in, he is getting around her, probably saying he has changed but as the weeks go on, it is back to the same thing.”
Stephen claimed it was as if Raymond was doing something to his sister that she was afraid to tell her family as he had control of her.
Ann Walsh said her two daughters were always together, they were very close and were best friends.
“Ann was full of life, she was outgoing, bubbly. She would make you laugh.”
Paul Moroney, who worked with Ann in SuperValu, said she was easy to get on with, was well known and stated “you couldn’t say a bad word about Ann”.
When the couple broke up, Stephen said she was back to herself, going for walks and going out with her friends.
However, he felt she would have been frightened to meet Raymond on her own in case something happened.
Mary said her sister was better when she was away from Raymond.
When Raymond started to come back into Ann’s life, Mary claimed he was ringing her phone a few times a day “threatening her and getting girls on the phone to threaten her”.
Her family advised her to change her mobile phone number.
Ann Walsh recalled her daughter asked her if she had telephoned her at 1am in the morning on August 21, which she hadn’t done.
“I knew she wasn’t herself that Monday when I saw her. I asked her was there anything worrying her. She said no apart from phone calls from people she didn’t know. I assume it was Raymond Donovan.”
Mary said Ann started meeting Raymond again “on the quiet”. When Mary asked Ann about this, Ann replied she was “only talking to him”.
According to gardai, Ann and Raymond had left Crotty’s together around 9.30pm before they had an argument on the street.
Arrested By Gardai
Sinéad Ní Uallacháin stated Raymond maintained that he and Ann had sex together and that Ann started shouting and scratching him. He said that he put his two hands up against her throat until she stopped.
“Raymond’s brother, Sean got a call from him that night around 10.30pm. Raymond told him that he had an argument with Ann. Sean said Raymond seemed very upset and there were scratches on his face.
“Raymond showed Sean where Ann was lying behind the chapel on the grounds of St Senan’s Church in Kilrush. At that point, it was Sean who rang the gardai around 11.01pm. Raymond was arrested by gardai.
The Walsh family wanted to see where Ann lay but this wasn’t possible because the area had to sealed off for the arrival of the garda forensic team.
Stephen said what was upsetting them most was knowing her body was still at the back of the church.
Ann Walsh recalled it was the longest night she ever experienced as she couldn’t sleep or do anything.
The following day Mass was celebrated at 10am while Ann lay at the back of the church.
Stephen remembered the family went down to identify her body in University Hospital Limerick.
Mary said Ann was lying on the bed with a white sheet up to her neck.
“The first thing I said when I saw her was what happened to her hair because she loved her hair. It was hard.”
Kilrush Stunned
When the news broke about Ann’s death, Paul Moroney said the town was stunned because things like this didn’t happen in the local community.
“Kilrush put its arms around the Walsh family at the time. People who knew and didn’t know Ann were brought together by grief, shock and sadness.”
Ann Walsh recalled her daughter’s remains were in their house on Saturday and Sunday after her body was released from UHL.
“I told them not to put the top on the coffin because I didn’t want that. I wanted to see Ann for as long as I could, I just wanted her there with us.”
Mary said she remembered Ann “lying in the coffin” at home. “I put a rose in her hand and rosary beads. I remember when they brought her down she had make up. She loved her make up. She
was very palish so I did her make up. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it, I was proud of myself because she would have loved it.”
Stephen recalled Ann had a massive funeral, which brought mourners from outside the town.
“We were now walking into a church burying a daughter and a sister in the prime of her life at 23 years of age.”
Mary admitted she doesn’t visit St Senan’s Church a lot because it is a painful reminder of when Ann was murdered and doesn’t expect she will ever marry in this church.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.