Woman who helped commission 2017 murder jailed for over 6 years

By Isabel Hayes

A woman who helped to commission the 2017 murder of a Dublin man by buying petrol to destroy the getaway car has been jailed for six years and three months.

Ciara Mahony knew Jamie Tighe-Ennis “from around the area” and rang him and met him the night he was murdered in October 2017, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard. She then purchased petrol which was used to set the getaway car on fire.

Mahony (46) with an address in Edmondstown Road, Ballyboden, Dublin 16, but originally from Artane, was extradited from Birmingham in the UK last year in connection with the murder of the 24-year-old man nine years ago, which remains unsolved.

She pleaded guilty to the sole count on the indictment of facilitating a criminal organisation in the commission of the murder of Mr Tighe-Ennis between October 27 and 28, 2017. It is an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Mr Tighe-Ennis died instantaneously after he was shot in the head as he walked along Moatview Avenue, Coolock in the early hours of October 28, 2017. A black Audi getaway car was found burnt out in Finglas a short time later.

Mahony’s involvement included purchasing the petrol that was used to burn out the Audi, the court heard. She was seen on CCTV footage filling a red jerry can in a Topaz petrol station that was later found in the burnt-out vehicle, Detective Sergeant Domhnall O’Connell told Conor McKenna BL, prosecuting.

Gardai also discovered her involvement from a phone that was found in the car and a limited edition bottle of wine, which was only sold in about 12 places in the country and which they tracked down to Priorswood Inn in Clonshaugh.

Mr Tighe-Ennis was socialising in Priorswood Inn on the night of his murder and Mahony met him there briefly, the court heard. The pair went outside and spoke briefly before Mr Tighe-Ennis went back inside and Mahony left.

Gardai also used phone mast data to track Mahony’s movements that night. She phoned Mr Tighe-Ennis a number of times that night and again the following morning after he was dead, the court heard.

When asked by Judge Martin Nolan what their relationship was, Det Sgt O’Connell said they would have known each other from “around the area”.

Mahony, who has no previous convictions except for some road traffic matters, was arrested in October 2018 and released, with a file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The DPP decided to prosecute in November 2024, at which point Mahony was living in the UK and extradition proceedings began. Her guilty plea is an early one, the court heard.

Mr Tighe’s parents and family members were in court for the sentence hearing, which was marked by emotional scenes.

In a victim impact statement read out by Det Sgt O’Connell, Mr Tighe-Ennis’s father, Kevin Ennis, recalled arriving on the scene shortly after his son had been shot and seeing the pool of blood around his body.

“My son was dead,” he said. “It’s with me every day and will be for the rest of my life.” He said he was sickened when he heard Mahony was herself a mother.

“How would you feel if it was your child?” he said. “You can rot in hell.”

Mr Tighe-Ennis’s mother, June Tighe, said her son’s death was “violent, sudden and devastating”.

“The night I got the knock on the door and was told my son was dead was the worst moment of my life,” she said. She said the memory of her son’s father standing over his son’s body, unable to hug him, will stay with her for the rest of her life.

“He was loved,” she said. “He mattered. He had a life, a future. We will never make the memories that should have been made with him.”

Cross-examining Det Sgt O’Connell, Jack Ryan BL, defending, put it to him that while Mahony knew “a very serious offence” was planned that night, she did not necessarily know Mr Tighe-Ennis would be killed.

“She was aware something serious was going to happen to (him),” Det Sgt O’Connell replied.

The detective agreed with defence counsel that Mahony had a severe addiction to crack cocaine at the time and was under the influence of people involved in organised crime, including two of her previous partners.

There was “an element of coercive control”, defence counsel said.

Sentencing Mahony today/yesterday (MON), Judge Martin Nolan said Mahony “had some part in the murder in the sense that she bought petrol and the purpose for buying the petrol was to be used to destroy the vehicle used in the murder”.

He noted the view of the prosecution is that Mahony “knew something was going to happen to Mr Tighe but not what happened”.

“Obviously if you buy petrol to aid the destruction of a car, it’s clear you know something is going to happen,” the judge added. “This defendant has moral culpability is this particular case.”

The judge took into account mitigating factors including Mahony’s early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions. He said she had been unlucky in her previous relationships which appeared to involve violence and coercion.

He said he believes she is unlikely to re-offend in the future but that she deserves a custodial sentence.

He set a headline sentence of nine to 10 years, which he reduced to six years and three months.

Mahony did not react as the sentence was handed down. As she was led away, one of the late man’s family supporters started screaming insults at her.