'PURE EVIL'

Stepmother is unmasked as killer of 'loving, innocent' Mason

- EOIN REYNOLDS

THE "evil" stepmother who murdered a fouryear-old boy in her care can now be named as Tegan McGhee - after a judge lifted an order preventing publication of her identity.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott yesterday sentenced McGhee, 32, of no fixed abode, to life imprisonment for the murder of Mason O'Connell Conway at a house she was renting with the boy's father in Limerick city on March 16, 2021.

The child's father, John Paul O'Connell, 36, was previously sentenced to seven years in prison having pleaded guilty to endangerment, neglect and impeding McGhee's apprehension or prosecution, knowing or believing she had murdered his son.

Four-year-old Mason was found with serious injuries at a house in Limerick city on March 13, 2021. He was pronounced dead three days later.

Mr Justice McDermott also sentenced McGhee to four years and six months for two counts of child cruelty in the weeks and months leading up to the murder, to run concurrently with the life sentence.

The judge said there was evidence the child had been deliberately isolated for weeks before the murder and in particular for the last four days of his life.

During that time he was abused by his father and stepmother, who "continued to mete out" what they must have known were disproportionate and damaging punishments to the child.

They deceived family and friends who wanted to see Mason and, knowing that McGhee had inflicted fatal wounds on the child, they tried to deceive medical professionals about what had been happening.

The judge described the abuse as an "appalling breach of trust" that had caused damage to the child, his mother and the extended family.

Mr Justice McDermott commended the child's mother, Elizabeth Conway, for her "enormous courage" in delivering her victim impact statement at a hearing earlier this week with "poise and dignity".