Amy McCarthy was beaten and strangled and left for dead

A JEALOUS young man who attacked and killed a mother of one he described as his 'soulmate' after accusing her of cheating on him was today convicted of her murder.

Adam O'Keeffe (27) sat with his head cradled in his hands as a Central Criminal Court jury of five men and six women returned a guilty verdict after two days of deliberation following a two week trial.

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O'Keeffe of St Vincent's Hostel, Cork, had denied the murder of his girlfriend Amy McCarthy but admitted her manslaughter on the opening day of his trial on July 10.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon was told that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did not accept O'Keeffe's manslaughter plea.

Members of Ms McCarthy's family, who have attended every day of the trial, became emotional as the verdict by returned.

O'Keeffe now faces a mandatory life sentence.

This will be imposed by Ms Justice Creedon when victim impact statements are delivered to the court later today.

Ms McCarthy, who was O'Keeffe's long-time partner and the mother of his young son, was found dead on the first floor of a derelict office building on Sheares Street in Cork city centre which was being used as a squat on April 29/30 2017.

The young woman had been badly beaten and strangled.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said Ms McCarthy is believed to have lay dying for around four hours after the initial assault.

O'Keeffe insisted throughout the trial he had never intended to hurt or kill Ms McCarthy from Greemount in Cork.

The trial heard he was very jealous and had repeatedly accused Ms McCarthy on April 29 of having cheated on him, something she vehemently denied.

Both the deceased and the defendant had serious alcohol dependency issues.

Just hours before Ms McCarthy's death, O'Keeffe had scrawled in graffiti on The Gate Cinema wall that: "Adam loves Amy forever - Amy loves Adam forever."

Ms McCarthy suffered blunt force trauma injuries from multiple blows and had indications - including apparent hand grip marks on her neck - that she was manually strangled.

But in subsequent Garda interviews the defendant insisted he couldn't remember precisely what had occurred.

"I did not mean for it to happen," O'Keeffe told one Garda.

"She never deserved me hitting her. I would never say that she was asking for it."

"(Amy) was a small girl - I should have been protecting her."

"The next thing I remember, she was dead. Why didn't they (others in the derelict building) stop me - it should not have happened."

O'Keeffe told Gardaí he could not believe Ms McCarthy was dead when he later woke up and found her unresponsive in the room beside him.

“I was crying over her begging her to wake up,” he told Gardaí.

In one interview, he said he bitterly regretted what had happened.

“It is the biggest regret I have - I am sorry to her family. (Amy) is the love of my life. She is my soulmate and the mother of my small fella. If I could change places with her I would. I really did not mean for any of this to happen,” he said.

A teenage witness said she was with O'Keeffe and the deceased on April 29 2017.

The teenager said she met the couple near Cork's Penny Dinners.

"Adam was giving out to her (Amy) - telling her to grow up."

Later, Ms McCarthy asked the teen to accompany her to the derelict building which was being used as a squat.

"She (Amy) was kind of nervous - as if she didn't want to go in (to the squat) alone with Adam," she said.

The witness said she watched as both the accused and the deceased went into the derelict building together.

In the early hours of the following day (April 30), Ms McCarthy was found dead in the building.

Sean Gillane SC, for the State, told the trial the defendant was prone to jealousy and the relationship between him and Ms McCarthy was very volatile.

Dean Nugent, who was with the defendant and the deceased on April 29, said he put himself between the couple during a heated row earlier that day.

Mr Nugent said O'Keeffe kept accusing the deceased of cheating on him - something she vigorously denied

"(It) was not true. She was afraid - he kept asking her: 'Did you cheat?' She kept saying 'No'. The argument just got worse," he said.

Mr Nugent said he told O'Keeffe to leave Ms McCarthy alone but was warned by the defendant not to get involved.

"He (O'Keeffe) was getting more worked up. He was just going on and on about her cheating on him. He was pushing Amy. She kept saying to him stop but he would not."

"She was crying. I tried to stop him hitting her but I could not do anything. There was other stuff in the room and he was throwing it at her - a laminator hit her in the leg."

"I was begging him to stop...he lost the plot."

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