A 26-year-old man has been jailed for life for the murder of his two sisters and brother in Tallaght, Dublin almost two years ago.
Andy Cash, of Rossfield Avenue in Tallaght, pleaded guilty to the murders of eight-year-old twins, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, and their 18-year-old sister Lisa Cash at their home in the early hours of 4 September 2022.
Detective Garda Robert Whitty told the Central Criminal Court that there had been a family event on 3 September 2022.
He told prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane that alcohol had been consumed and Cash was discussing family members in a way that made other people uncomfortable.
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The court heard that Andy Cash took a taxi to Rossfield Avenue and told the driver to wait outside. Christy and Chelsea were asleep, while Lisa was watching television.
The waiting taxi driver heard a scream but was unsure where it was coming from. Andy Cash came out of the house, told the driver to call 999 and went back in.
Another brother, who was sharing a bedroom with Christy, heard Andy Cash come into the house. I have heard Lisa tell him that she did not have any money and that he should not be in the house.
He saw Cash come into the bedroom with a large knife. He saw him start to stab Lisa.
He tried to wake up his younger brother, the court heard. He jumped from the bedroom window and unsuccessfully tried to get his little brother to follow him. He was found by a member of the public, half dressed and in a state of utter panic outside.
Detective Garda Whitty agreed that when emergency services arrived they encountered a scene of “utter carnage”. He said there was an injured child on the ground and Cash was upstairs behaving erratically and aggressively throwing things from the windows including a television screen.
He was then seen dangling Christy from the window. The child appeared lifeless, the court heard, and Cash dropped him from the first floor window to the ground.
When armed gardaí forced entry to the house they found Lisa catastrophically injured at the bottom of the stairs.
All three children had suffered multiple stab and slash injuries to their bodies – particularly their faces, necks and torsos. Lisa had 71 injuries, Christy had 107 and Chelsea had 65.
Detective Garda Whitty agreed that a bloodied knife had been recovered and the boy who had jumped from a window had been given a compelling account of what he had seen.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on behalf of the children, the children’s mother Margaret and another sister, Margaret, the family said there were not enough words to describe the pain they had to live with every second of every day since the murders .
They said the three innocent children were viciously taken from them and what was left was their broken family.
They said they missed everything about them as well as how much the children had missed out on.
“It’s not just what was taken from us that hurts,” they said, “it’s how their whole lives were taken from them before they even had a chance to live them.”
The family said there was no amount of time a person could spend in a jail cell that would justify what happened to their family.
They said Lisa, Christy and Chelsea deserved so much more from life.
“They deserved to grow old and live their lives however they would have chosen to and to have families of their own.”
They described the three siblings as the most beautiful, kind and loving children in the world and said they would love and miss them forever.
Defense counsel, Brendan Grehan, said his client had been evaluated by two separate psychiatrists and a psychologist. He said Cash was sorry for his actions and sorry for all the people he had hurt.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the case was deeply traumatising for a family who had suffered such an acute loss of children on the cusp of their lives.
Their lives had been lost in the most appalling circumstances, he said, and nothing he said or did would in any way help.
The judge said the short court hearing did not detract from the value of the lives lost.
He said he wanted to extend his heartfelt condolences to the family. And he said the fact that there were three victims should be taken into account at a later date when “matters are further assessed.”
