A 30 year old man has been jailed for life for murdering a Waterford mother of four who he was briefly in a relationship with.
Danny Whelan of no fixed address but originally from Thurles in Tipperary pleaded guilty to murdering Samantha Walsh in Waterford city in April 2017.
Samantha Walsh’s brother Raymond held up a picture of her to the courtroom during his victim impact statement and said ‘this is my sister Samantha Walsh. She’s not just a name on a piece of paper’.
He described the 31 year old as an adoring mother – and even though her life wasn’t always easy – she always had a smile on her face.
The court heard the accused Danny Whelan and Samantha Walsh met in an addiction treatment centre in Limerick in November 2016.
In the week before she died, they were squatting at an apartment on Thomas Street with evidence of a volatile relationship.
On the 28th of April 2017, gardai were called to the apartment complex where Danny Whelan had overdosed on heroin.
Paramedics found a confession note on him addressed to his father saying he had murdered Samantha and her body was found in the bedroom surrounded by blood.
It’s unclear how she was murdered – he told gardaí he killed her with a hammer while the confession note said he did it with an ashtray.
The court heard Samantha Walsh had phoned one of Danny’s friends shortly before she was murdered and said the words ‘he’s killing me’.
Danny Whelan – who kept his head bowed for the entire hearing - was jailed for life.
