A woman has been handed a life sentence for the murder of her 4-year-old stepson.
Tegan McGhee admitted murdering Mason O’Connell Conway in the home she was living in with the boy’s father at a rented address in Limerick in 2021.
She initially claimed he fell off the top bunk of his bed, but the evidence didn’t support her claim of accidental death and she eventually pleaded guilty to murder.
She couldn’t be identified until now due to a court order that was put in place during an early court appearance, but that order has now been lifted.
In 2024, the boy’s father, John Paul O’Connell, was jailed for seven years after admitting charges of endangerment, neglect and impeding the apprehension of Tegan McGhee.
Outside the courthouse, Mason’s mother, Elizabeth Conway, said, "Only for the Gardaí they would've got away with it."
"I trusted them to mind my son, and for that, I'll never forgive myself," she told reporters.
She said the last five years have been a living hell, as she heard what her son went through in the time leading up to his death.
Reporting by SPIN's Courts Correspondent, Frank Greaney.
