Pregnant Aoife Beaten To Death And Buried In Barrel

A 24 year old man from Portlaoise has been charged with the murder of Aoife Phelan, a 30 year old nanny, whose disappearance led to a week long search that captivated Ireland, and ended with the discovery of her body buried in a garden inside a barrel.

Robert Corbet, of Sheffield, Timahoe, Co. Laois shook his head and said "No" when Gardai put the charge of murder to him at a police station last week, the district court heard.

Aoife Phelan was last seen on Thursday evening October 25, and an alert was raised after she failed to turn up to work the next day.

There as immediate concern as Ms Phelan had informed her family that she was pregnant.

She had been working as a live-in nanny for a local married couple.

As time went by, fears grew as new evidence emerged, and Gardai declared their investigations a murder inquiry, even though no body had been found.

They arrested Corbet, who had a brief affair with Ms Phelan, and questioned him, but released him later without charge.

Then, on Wednesday last, they made a grim discovery.

A body was recovered after a dig in a garden on the outskirts of Portlaoise during a searched sparked by a tip off.

Gardai believe Ms Phelan was beaten to death, and her body put in a barrel and buried.

They immediately re-arrested Corbet, and he was charged at a sitting of the District Court on Friday.

He was remanded in custody at Cloverhill Prison, where he will undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Aoife's family released a statement in the wake of the court appearance.

"Today we are happy to have Aoife back with us, her family," it said.

"Her death has left us sad and heartbroken. She was a loving daughter and sister and we will miss her dearly.

"We are overwhelmed by the support and the kindness we have received over the past two weeks.

"We would like to thank all the people who helped in searching for Aoife and who have been there for us, especially family members, neighbours, friends and the Ballyroan community.

"We would like to acknowledge the efforts of An Garda Síochána who have worked tirelessly to have Aoife returned to us.

"We ask now for privacy as we spend our remaining precious time with Aoife today and attend to her funeral tomorrow."

Aoife was buried after funeral mass in Ballyroan on Saturday.

During his homily Fr Gerard Ahern commended Ms Phelan's parents and her 11 siblings for their dignity over the past weeks.

He said Aoife had been a keen soccer and rugby fan, a talented artist with a love of music, a beautiful and caring daughter and sister.