THE family of a young woman killed in a hit and run in Rathkeale last Christmas said their lives “changed forever” when she died.
Marguerita O’Rourke (nèe Sheridan) died after her uncle, Danny O’Donoghue (43), of Lower Main Street, Rathkeale, deliberately drove his van into a set of steel gates she was standing behind, his sentencing hearing heard.
Mr O’Donoghue immediately drove away from the scene in Rathkeale. One minute later, while armed with a machete, he set upon another relative, Patrick Sheridan, who was driving near his own home.
O’Donoghue, who the court heard was coming down off an alcohol and cocaine binge, drove at Mr Sheridan’s van and threatened to kill him with the machete.
Gardaí played CCTV footage in court showing O’Donoghue exiting his van and using the machete to smash the windows in Mr Sheridan’s van.
Patrick Sheridan told Gardaí his life “flashed” before him as O’Donoghue approached him with a “three foot machete”.
Mr Sheridan said that O’Donoghue told him: “I’m going to kill you, you’re dead, I’m going to sink this (machete) through your neck.”
Mr Sheridan said O’Donoghue screamed at him to “get your sons, bring out your sons, get your sons”, but did not know why he was being asked these things.
21-year-old Marguerita O’Rourke had given birth to her first child, Edward, three weeks prior to her death, the sentencing held at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.
O’Donoghue’s barrister, senior counsel John Bowman, argued in mitigation that the defendant was “unaware” his niece had been standing behind the screened 8’6’’ double-gates when he slammed into them on December 21, 2024.
“It is a tragedy of epic and enormous proportions on all of the families involved,” Mr Bowman said.
Locals rallied around Ms O’Rourke following the impact, including an off-duty fireman, who fetched a defibrillator. Paramedics kept her alive as they transferred her by ambulance to UHL, but despite the best efforts of medical staff, she was pronounced dead four hours later.
A loud bang from the impact, followed by Ms O’Rourke’s mother’s screams at the scene, echoed through the courtroom as Gardaí played CCTV footage of the fatal ramming.
Ms O’Rourke’s mother, Margaret ‘Doite’ Sheridan, had been bringing her some food at the time and was only a few feet away when the impact occurred.
Detective Garda Elaine O’Keeffe told the court that due to ongoing tensions between families in Rathkeale, ramming of property had “become the norm” and Ms Sheridan was not overly concerned until she went to the gates and realised her daughter was lying on the ground.
Ms Sheridan identified her brother as the driver of the van when Gardaí arrived at the scene.
Detective Garda O’Keeffe said O’Donoghue could be heard in the footage screaming at his sister to “get out of town” as he drove away.
The court heard that O’Donoghue had no issue with his niece, however there were regular tensions between feuding parties linked to their families who were all interrelated through marriage.
The deceased’s husband, Denis O’Rourke, who was not present at the hearing, wrote in a victim impact statement, which was read in court on his behalf: “Whatever feud existed between our families, nothing could excuse what (O’Donoghue) did.”
“This was an attempt to terrorise my entire family and it was intimidation designed to keep us living in fear.”
Ms O’Rourke’s father, John Sheridan, who also was not in court, wrote in a victim impact statement that his daughter’s death has had “a profound and devastating effect” on his family.
“Marguerita was a kind, loving, wonderful daughter, and she was a natural mother to her little son, Edward,” he wrote.
“She couldn’t wait to bring him home to us for Christmas.
“It was going to be such a joyous time for us, instead we had to face the horrendous reality of her death.”
Mr Sheridan wrote that he urged the court to impose a custodial sentence on the man who “used his vehicle as a weapon of destruction to cause fatal injuries to our daughter”.
“Holding the accused accountable is important to my wife and me, but it is also important to our community.”
O’Donoghue handed himself in to Gardaí two days after the incident after learning he had killed his niece.
He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, criminal damage, producing a machete during the course of a dispute, and failing to remain at the scene of a collision.
A previous charge of O’Donoghue making a threat to kill or cause serious harm to Patrick Sheridan was taken into consideration on a full facts basis.
O’Donoghue suggested to Gardaí after his arrest that he swerved his van to avoid his sister who he claimed had been standing on the street at the time, and that he accidentally struck the double gates, but Gardaí did not accept this as footage of the scene showed his sister was not standing on the road and that he drove straight into the gates.
O’Donoghue later stated in a letter to his sister, the victim’s mother, that “it’s all my fault, I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart, I’m the person who did this terrible sin, it makes me sick to my stomach”.
O’Donoghue had six previous convictions including dangerous driving, careless driving, disorderly conduct, failing to comply with a Garda’s directions, and causing minor bodily harm in Germany in March 2023, for which he received a €330 fine.
Judge Colin Daly said he had much to consider and remanded O’Donoghue in continuing custody to appear before the court again for sentencing on January 21, 2026.