Linda & Charlotte Mulhall

People

• Linda Mulhall — sister of Charlotte Mulhall; defendant; sentenced to a 15-year sentence for manslaughter on December 4, 2006; aged 30 at the time of the killing; unemployed; left school early; had four children; had a history of alcohol abuse; suffered from an addiction to heroin; had one previous conviction in 1993 for larceny.
• Charlotte Mulhall — sister of Linda Mulhall; defendant; sentenced to life in prison on December 4, 2006; aged 23 at the time of the killing; had a history of drug and alcohol abuse; had minor previous convictions for criminal damage and public order offences; was charged with criminal damage and given the Probation Act in October 2005; involved in prostitution.
• Farah Swaleh Noor (also known as Sheilila Salim) — victim; Kenyan; aged 38 at the time of death; arrived in Ireland in December 1996; arrested trial subject; had four previous convictions for offences including intoxication, threatening and abusive behaviour and assault; in 1997 raped a mentally disabled 16 year-old Chinese girl; two other women had children by him and described having been raped by him; faced eight charges of disorder and assault, including a sexual assault in which a knife was found at the scene by gardaí; convicted on three occasions but never served time in jail; described by gardaí as being particularly violent towards women; suspect in the unsolved murder of Raonaid Murray in September 1999, but authorities were satisfied he did not carry out that murder.
• Kathleen Mulhall — mother of Linda and Charlotte Mulhall; partner of Farah Swaleh Noor; left the country for England after Linda’s confession; voluntarily returned to Ireland in February 2008; pleaded guilty to helping to clean up the crime scene to conceal evidence; sentenced to five years in prison in May 2009; charged with giving false information and withholding information that she “knew or believed” would assist in prosecuting her daughters for Noor’s murder; also charged with impeding an arrest in the murder investigation.
• John Mulhall — father of Linda and Charlotte Mulhall; hanged himself in Phoenix Park when the daughters were charged with the killing in December 2005; not believed to have been involved in the killing.
• George Birmingham SC — prosecuting counsel in court.
• Justice Paul Carney — presiding judge; presided over the trial and sentencing.
• Detective Inspector Christopher Mangan — took a voluntary statement from Linda Mulhall at her home in Tallaght in August 2005.
• Scientist Claire Timms — carried out a toxicology test on a blood sample taken from a man later identified as Farah Swaleh Noor in July; reported ecstasy or MDMA presence.
• Denis Gibney — fellow inmate referenced in connection with leaked photographs holding a knife.
• Cormac Looney — Evening Herald; referred to Linda’s first disclosure of where Noor’s head had ended up as “the final secret of the Scissor Sisters”.

Timeline

• December 1996 — Farah Swaleh Noor arrived in Ireland, claiming to be a Somalian called Sheilila Salim.
• March 1999 — the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform ordered that Noor be deported; he appealed; he was granted citizenship on grounds he became the father of an Irish-born child.
• 2002 — Kathleen Mulhall entered into a relationship with Farah Swaleh Noor; Noor moved into the family home; John Mulhall took some of his children and moved out.
• 2004 — Kathleen Mulhall and Noor returned to Dublin; Noor allegedly subjected Kathleen Mulhall to regular beatings.
• 20 March 2005 — killing occurred at a flat Kathleen Mulhall was renting in a house on Richmond Cottages, Summerhill, on the bank holiday of Saint Patrick's weekend.
• August 2005 — sisters and their parents were arrested in August but denied any knowledge of the killing; Detective Inspector Christopher Mangan took a voluntary statement from Linda Mulhall at her home in Tallaght in August 2005.
• September 2005 — Kathleen Mulhall fled the country after Linda contacted investigating officers admitting her involvement; gardaí were unable to locate her again until January 2008.
• October 2005 — Charlotte Mulhall was charged with criminal damage and given the Probation Act.
• September 2006 — both were remanded in custody; their jail terms dated back to September.
• October 2006 — trial took place; Charlotte was found guilty of the murder of Noor; Linda was found guilty of manslaughter; jury accepted Linda’s defence of provocation.
• December 4, 2006 — Charlotte Mulhall was sentenced to life in prison and Linda Mulhall was given a 15-year sentence for manslaughter.
• August 22, 2008 — Charlotte Mulhall was transferred to a new jail as an investigation was launched into leaked photographs of her wielding a knife behind bars.
• February 2008 — Kathleen Mulhall voluntarily returned to Ireland.
• January 2008 — gardaí were able to locate Kathleen Mulhall, who was living in England.
• May 2009 — Kathleen Mulhall was sentenced to five years in prison.
• April 2009 — Linda claimed to fellow inmates that she smashed Noor’s head and distributed the fragments in rubbish bins in the Phoenix Park.

Background

The Mulhalls were from Kilclare Gardens, a working class area in Tallaght, south Dublin. Their parents were John and Kathleen Mulhall and they raised a family of three boys and three girls. John Mulhall allegedly abused Kathleen. Their marriage broke down and Kathleen entered into a relationship with Farah Swaleh Noor in 2002. Noor moved into their family home with Kathleen and John Mulhall took some of his children and moved out. Noor rented various accommodations in Dublin over a period of a year, then moved back into the home after Kathleen left and moved to Cork with Noor. Kathleen and Noor returned to Dublin in 2004. Noor allegedly subjected Kathleen Mulhall to regular beatings.

Linda Mulhall

Linda Mulhall was 30 years old at the time of the killing. She was unemployed, had left school early and had four children. The relationship with the father of her children broke up and she got into another relationship with an individual who subsequently abused them. Linda had a history of alcohol abuse and suffered from an addiction to heroin. She had one previous conviction in 1993 for larceny.

Charlotte Mulhall

Charlotte Mulhall was 23 years old when the killing took place. Like her sister, she had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. She had a number of minor previous convictions for criminal damage and public order offences and was charged with criminal damage and given the Probation Act in October 2005. She was also involved in prostitution.

During their trial, gardaí described the girls' upbringing as “troubled and tough”.

Farah Swaleh Noor

Farah Swaleh Noor was 38-years-old at the time of his death. He arrived in Ireland in December 1996, claiming to be a Somalian called Sheilila Salim whose family had been killed in Mogadishu. Subsequent investigations revealed that he was in fact Kenyan and that his family was still alive. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform ordered that he be deported but he appealed and was granted citizenship in March 1999 on grounds he became the father of an Irish-born child.

He had four previous convictions for offences including intoxication, threatening and abusive behaviour and assault. In 1997, he raped a mentally disabled 16 year-old Chinese girl and she later gave birth to a son. Two other women had children by him and both described having been raped by him. Noor had faced eight charges of disorder and assault, one involving a sexual assault in which a knife was found at the scene by gardaí. He was convicted on three occasions but never served time in jail. Noor lived in a number of areas in Dublin, including Dun Laoghaire and Firhouse, as well as the inner city before moving in with Kathleen Mulhall. Gardaí described him as being particularly violent towards women.

Noor was a suspect in the unsolved murder of Raonaid Murray which took place in September 1999. Authorities were satisfied Noor did not carry out this murder.

The offence

The killing took place at a flat Kathleen Mulhall was renting in a house on Richmond Cottages, Summerhill, on 20 March 2005.

Build-up to the killing

On the day of the killing, Linda, Charlotte, their mother and Farah Swaleh Noor had been drinking heavily in Dublin city centre. Farah bought vodka and Kathleen Mulhall purchased Coca-Cola which they drank as they walked around the city before stopping on the River Liffey Boardwalk where Charlotte and her mother took ecstasy tablets. They returned to Kathleen Mulhall's flat where the women took ecstasy. Kathleen Mulhall crushed a tablet into the victim's drink so they were all on the same "buzz".

Death of Farah Swaleh Noor

Linda and Noor were sitting on a two-seater couch with Charlotte sitting on the arm, when Noor started touching Linda in a sexual way. He spoke into her ear, put his arms around her waist and refused to let her go. Kathleen then started screaming at him and a verbal altercation took place where Kathleen Mulhall was alleged to have instructed them to ”just kill him for me”.

Charlotte picked up a Stanley knife and struck Noor across the throat, inflicting a wound that sent him to the ground. Linda then picked up a hammer and hit him on the head a number of times. Their mother looked on but didn't participate. Noor was stabbed at least 27 times. It may have been more, but pathologists had no opportunity to examine the full body.

Dismemberment and disposal of the corpse

Linda and Charlotte then dragged Noor's corpse into the bathroom where they began to dismember the remains. Noor's head, limbs and penis were severed using a kitchen knife and hammer. They put towels over his legs to stem the flow of blood. The dismemberment took a number of hours and the body parts were placed in black plastic bags and a sports bag before being disposed of in the Royal Canal. This took the three women several trips.

They decided not to throw the head in to prevent identification. The head was brought by bus to Tallaght where they walked through The Square Shopping Centre to Tymon North Park. They walked to where Charlotte dug a hole with a knife to bury the head. Kathleen Mulhall threw the knives and the hammer into a nearby pond.

A number of days later, Linda Mulhall allegedly returned to the park and dug up the head. Using her son's schoolbag, she transferred it to a field in the Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, where she broke it up with a hammer before burying it again.

In court evidence and statements, details included that Linda told gardaí the head was brought by bus to Tallaght, that they walked through the Square shopping centre to Tynan Park North, and that they walked around for ages there before Charlotte dug a hole with a knife in which to bury the head. Linda told gardaí that over the next few days “something kept telling her to go back to the park”. She said she removed the head, put it into a plastic bag, and hid it in bushes. She said she used her son’s school bag to transfer the head to another field in Tallaght, kissed the bag and told Farah she was sorry. She said she stayed in the field for a long time, drinking a litre bottle of vodka. She said she hit the head with another hammer she had brought with her to try to break it up and said a prayer before burning the plastic bag and the school bag.

Investigation

The killing only came to light ten days later when Noor's leg, with a sock on the end, was seen floating in the canal, a few hundred yards from Croke Park. Garda sub-aqua divers retrieved most of the rest of his body in seven parts. Gardaí traced his identity through media appeals. Noor was only identified when someone recognised a t-shirt on the recovered torso. That key witness, a Somalian man who was the first to connect the missing Noor with the three Mulhall women, was paid a “substantial” reward by Crimestoppers.

Noor's head and penis were never found.

The sisters and their parents were arrested in August but denied any knowledge of the killing. A number of weeks later Linda contacted investigating officers admitting her involvement. Gardaí took a voluntary statement from her at her home in Tallaght in August 2005. Until this, Gardaí had been making limited progress in the case. When Gardaí searched the Mulhall flat in Summerhill, they found bloodstains that were later confirmed to match Noor's DNA.

Arrest and detention

The sisters and their parents were arrested in August and denied any knowledge of the killing. Kathleen Mulhall fled the country in September 2005. Gardaí were unable to locate her until January 2008.

Trial

Murder trial of Linda and Charlotte Mulhall

Linda Mulhall and Charlotte Mulhall were both charged with murder and pleaded not guilty in the Central Criminal Court. Their trial took place in October 2006.

Linda Mulhall was found guilty of manslaughter; her jury accepted her defence of provocation. Charlotte Mulhall was found guilty of the murder of Noor.

During the trial, Detective Inspector Christopher Mangan told the court that he took a voluntary statement from Linda Mulhall at her house in Tallaght in August last year and read her statement to the court. In the statement, Linda described Farah touching her and also described threatening gestures and the use of a Stanley blade and hammer. She said: “He pulled me close to him and said something into my ear I did not understand but I know it was dirty, dirty. It caused me to shiver.” She said: “He said something about them being “creatures of the night” and she asked her mother “What does he mean?”

Linda told gardaí that her mother had crushed up an ecstasy tablet and put it into the deceased’s drink as “she wanted Farah to have E as me and Charlie were in good humour'. ” She said her mother asked: “What the f*** are you doing?” and described Farah as saying “you’re so like your mammy”. Linda said: “I picked up a hammer and hit him on the head loads of times, a good few times and Charlotte stabbed him.”

Linda described that when Charlotte told their mother Farah was dead, “they were all screaming and her mother shouted “get him out”.” She said: “The deceased was then dragged into the bathroom by the legs where “Me and Charlotte chopped him up. It was Charlotte’s idea”.” She said: “Charlotte started sawing his legs with the knife.” She said: “The smell was… it wouldn’t go away. I think about it every night,” she told gardaí.

Linda described that she had used a hammer to hit his legs a number of times and that they had put towels over his legs to stop the blood gushing out. She said it took them several trips to dispose of body parts in the canal and described carrying head and penis and that the head and penis have never been found. She said: “It took us a few hours to do it.” She said: “We walked down to the canal a few times, it took a few times,” and stated: “It’s not my fault it happened. I’m sorry. If I could turn back time I would.”

At the conclusion of the statement, Det Insp Mangan agreed she had said: “It’s not my fault it happened. I’m sorry.

Expert evidence

Scientist Claire Timms said she had carried out a toxicology test on a blood sample taken from a man later identified as Farah Swaleh Noor in July last year. She said the test revealed the presence of ecstasy or MDMA at a level of 0.14 micrograms per millilitre.

Witness evidence on alleged rape and abuse

A witness giving evidence in the trial of sisters Charlotte Mulhall (23) and Linda (31) claimed she had been raped by Farah Noor on an almost daily basis and feared he might kill her. Counsel requested the media not to name her to protect her privacy.

The witness told the jury that: “He abused me, so I just got up and left him.” She agreed with prosecuting counsel that the deceased carried knives and she said he had pulled her hair and hit her in the head. She said: “He was a 'lovely man' at first, but changed when he had a drink on him”. She agreed she had fears that her son was being abused by him. Under cross-examination, she said she had been raped on numerous occasions and had had “very brutal sex” with the deceased “at any time and anywhere he had wanted it”. She said the mother of the two accused, Kathleen Mulhall, had contacted her making complaints about Noor and seeking her advice and suggested she should leave him. The witness said she had called the gardai on a number of occasions and described him as “someone who'd fight or get into rows at the drop of a hat”. She said she feared that “one day he might kill me”.

Sentencing

Charlotte Mulhall was given the mandatory life sentence. Linda Mulhall was given a 15-year sentence for manslaughter on December 4, 2006. Both sentences were imposed at Dublin Central Criminal Court.

Justice Paul Carney said during sentencing that it was “the most grotesque of killings that has occurred within his professional lifetime.” He argued that Linda, a heroin addict, had initially tried to halt the trial by refusing to take methadone.

Remand details

The trial commentary said that their jail terms dated back to September when both were remanded in custody.

Appeals

Leave to appeal was refused for both sentences.

Linda Mulhall appealed the severity of her sentence on the grounds that it was passed without psychiatric and probation reports. This appeal failed, with the Court of Criminal Appeal finding the sentence to be appropriate.

Charlotte Mulhall requested leave to appeal her conviction on the grounds that Justice Carney had put pressure on the jury to reach a verdict even though the foreman had indicated they were deadlocked. This failed on the grounds that the defence did not raise objections to the comments during the trial and the fact that the jury was not affected by any alleged undue pressure to reach a verdict.

Outcome

• Linda Mulhall was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison on December 4, 2006.
• Charlotte Mulhall was found guilty of the murder of Noor and sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment on December 4, 2006.

Other legal proceedings

Court case against Kathleen Mulhall

Kathleen Mulhall voluntarily returned to Ireland in February 2008 and was charged with, among other offences, two counts of giving false information to gardaí about Noor's whereabouts, and withholding information which she “knew or believed” would be of assistance in prosecuting her daughters for Noor's murder. She was also charged with impeding an arrest in the murder investigation.

She pleaded guilty to helping to clean up the crime scene in order to conceal evidence. Kathleen Mulhall was sentenced to five years in prison in May 2009.

Criminal damage/probation background

Charlotte Mulhall was charged with criminal damage and given the Probation Act in October 2005.

Aftermath

Jail transfers and prison security

In August 2008, Charlotte Mulhall was transferred to a new jail as an investigation was launched into leaked photographs of her wielding a knife behind bars. The photographs showed her holding a long blade to the neck of fellow inmate Denis Gibney. The images were taken while the pair were apparently in the kitchen of Mountjoy's Dochas Centre. Prison Service officials launched an investigation focusing on who took the photographs, locating the mobile phone used, and identifying lapses in supervision of Mulhall and Gibney while they worked in the prison kitchen.

Possession of a mobile phone in prison was described as an offence punishable by up to five years in jail, though the maximum penalty imposed to date had been six months.

The investigation described Charlotte Mulhall as deeply unhappy at being moved from the Dochas Centre because she would be separated from her sister Linda (32) and mother Kathleen (52), who were both incarcerated there. The prison source said she might be offered a swift return to the Dochas if she cooperated.

Confessions and admissions about the head

In April 2009, Linda claimed to fellow inmates that she had in fact smashed Noor's head and distributed the fragments in rubbish bins in the Phoenix Park. This disclosure was referred to as “the final secret of the Scissor Sisters” by Cormac Looney in the Evening Herald.

In April 2009, it was stated that Linda made an admission at Dochas women’s prison in Dublin in the prior month. The admission said that the fragments of Noor’s skull had been emptied into bins in the Phoenix Park. It was stated that Gardaí had been informed and had launched an investigation into where the head was disposed of. The disclosure described moving the head from undergrowth at Tymon Park North in Tallaght to Phoenix Park, using a hammer to crush the skull into small pieces, putting some pieces in a plastic bag and leaving the remainder in the original plastic bag, and dumping the bags in refuse bins.

Family members

The girls’ father, John Mulhall, hanged himself in Phoenix Park when his daughters were charged with the killing in December 2005. He was not believed to have been involved in the killing.

Linda Mulhall turned to alcohol and slashed her arms, causing her to spend over a week in a psychiatric hospital.

Brother’s plea

The girls' brother, James Mulhall, pleaded guilty to the robbery of two prostitutes, claiming he robbed the women to support his own six children and his sister Linda's four children whom he took on after she was jailed.

Additional statements about the killing

It was stated that Linda told fellow inmates and investigating officers that she could not remember at the time of the trial but that it had come back to her since. It was also stated that her mother Kathleen pleaded guilty to a charge of covering up Noor's murder.

Media and publication references

The case attracted intense media attention in Ireland in 2005 to the present day and resulted in several books. Several books were listed:

• The Torso in the Canal — John Mooney (Maverick House, ISBN 978-1-905379-38-5)
• The Irish Scissor Sisters — Mick McCaffrey (Merlin Publishing, ISBN 1-903582-72-5)

The 2009 RTÉ television series Killers featured the Mulhall sisters. It was said by the Irish Independent's legal affairs correspondent Dearbhail McDonald to have “fuelled fears of ritual killings in Ireland”.