CORK County Council have announced that they will demolish a house in Charleville, Co. Cork, in which a young man killed two of his younger brothers.
The council have agreed to demolish the property after the mother of those killed requested for them to do.
21-year-old Jonathan O’Driscoll stabbed both of his younger brothers, Patrick and Tommy O’Driscoll, more than 80 times at the family home in Deerpark, Charleville, shortly after 5pm on September 4th, 2014.
He then took his own life and his body was discovered on the banks of the Awbeg River in the nearby town of Buttevant later that day.
The mother of the three boys, Helen O’Driscoll, told Cork’s Evening Echo last week that “nobody in their right mind would ever live in that house.”
She added: “It was a tradition in the travelling community that you burned the barrel top wagon that the person died in. Thomas (Helen’s husband) would never have done that with the house. He wanted to do things the right way, the legal way, but four years later it is still standing.”
Cork County Council has issued a statement expressing their commitment to carrying out the demolition work.
“Cork County Council remains committed to engaging with the O’Driscoll family with a view to facilitating the demolition of the dwelling,” it read.
The council is in the process of rehousing the family in a nearby property with the O'Driscoll's currently living in rented accommodation. The jury at an inquest into the deaths of the boys returned an open verdict. They ruled a suicide in the case of Jonathan.
Speaking about the demolition, Helen said: “It needs to be knocked so my boys can go to God. My kids died innocent but their souls are trapped in there.”
A date for the demolition is yet to be secured.
