Laois man jailed for shocking death of young mum

A LAOIS man who stabbed his partner at least 13 times, struck her with a Himalayan rock lamp and then left her alone at her home without calling for medical help has been jailed for 12 and a half years.

The sentence was imposed at the Central Criminal Court in Cork today on Seán Egan, who was found guilty of manslaughter but not of murder by a jury last March, after a two-week trial. The manslaughter verdict shocked the family of Sharon Crean (35), the mother of a little boy.

Speaking outside the court today her brother Nigel, who lives in Portlaoise, said that his sister had not received justice.

“My sister is lying under six feet of clay while he is being watered, fed, dressed and showered. And we are watering flowers (at her grave) and looking at a cold headstone.” 

Egan (39) was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility. Sharon was fatally stabbed on 14 December 2022, at her apartment on College Avenue in Mountmellick.

The jury at the trial heard that Sharon was discovered in the doorway of her apartment by a neighbour. She was conscious when her neighbour made the 999 call.

However, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she died later that day.

The mother of one had suffered “at least 15 sharp force injuries", of which “at least 13” were identified as stab wounds. Several stab wounds entered the chest cavity and were fatal.

Consultant psychiatrists for both the prosecution and defence agreed that the qualified electrician, who was formerly of Rathmiles in Portarlington, Laois, was suffering from a mental disorder when he committed the offence.

It was, however, determined that the qualified electrician was still able to know the nature and the quality of the act involved.

In their reports, he was variously described as being "impervious to reason", psychotic at the time of interview and suffering a "psychotic disorder with potential diagnosis of schizophrenia". However, both sides agreed that a verdict of not guilty by virtue of insanity was not applicable in the case.

Memos of garda interviews were read out during the trial. Egan had told gardaí that he took out the knife to use as a fear factor.

He said: “I picked up the candlestick and cracked it over the head … I stabbed her two or three times in the side … I went in jest with the knife … She said, please, please … At no point did I think her life was taken.

"Up until I struck her, I did not think I would do it. I can’t believe she is dead. I did not know I was penetrating her. I never stabbed anyone. If I can change the clocks, I would wind them back.” 

The jury was told that Egan had left the scene by the time emergency services arrived. He returned 18 minutes later as his partner was being treated by paramedics.

At the sentencing hearing on Thursday 21 May, Judge Siobhán Lankford said that the deceased was “hugely loved and a woman of great substance". She said that Sharon's young son had “lost a loving and committed mother” and offered her condolences to her family.

Judge Lankford set a 20-year headline sentence in the case. She indicated that she agreed with the DPP that the case should be placed “at the highest level in terms of culpability". The judge described the actions of Sharon's on/off partner as a “gross breach of trust". She described the attack as “ferocious” and noted that it was completely unprovoked.

Taking the verdict of the jury as regards diminished responsibility into consideration, as well as Egan's expression of remorse, his admissions at the scene and the offer of a plea of manslaughter in the case, the judge imposed a jail sentence of 13.5 years.

She suspended the final year of the sentence for two years, on condition that the father of three obey all the directions of the probation service following his release from custody.

The sentence was backdated to 16 December 2022, when Egan first entered custody in relation to the case.

The court had heard that Sharon was the much-loved eldest in a family of seven. She was originally from Arklow, Co Wicklow but had lived in Laois for many years.

Sharon's mother Catherine Crean said that she couldn’t understand the verdict in the case, given the violence her daughter suffered, the fear she endured and “the sheer brutality of her injuries.

She said that Sharon was “caring and loving” and expressed huge disappointment with the sentence imposed on Egan.