State apology and expected compensation in infamous case after 36 years

JOANNE HAYES is expected to receive a state apology in Superior Court for what happened to her in what became known as the Kerry Babies case.

Ms. Hayes was charged with being the mother of a baby who was found stabbed to death on a Cahirsiveen beach 36 years ago.

Two years ago he received an apology from Gardaí but today he is expected to receive an apology from the State and compensation for his treatment.

The infamous case began when the body of the newborn, since known as Baby John, was found in White Strand in April 1984.

Ms Hayes, who lived more than 75 kilometers away in Abbeydorney, was charged with the murder after Gardaí learned that the then 25-year-old was pregnant but had not been seen with a baby.

What had happened now was that two babies tragically died at the same time in April 1984: one born to Mrs. Hayes in Abbeydorney, who did not survive the birth, and another from the hand of a still unknown person who stabbed the multiple newborn. . times.

Ms. Hayes was charged with killing two babies after Gardaí claimed that they were both her children.

Due to inconsistencies related to blood types, Gardaí at the time took the surprising leap of claiming that she became pregnant by two different men at the same time, a phenomenon known as superfertilization.

Ms. Hayes and her family initially confessed to the murder, but later withdrew the confessions, which they said were produced by gardaí coercion, and said she had given birth to their baby boy, named Shane, on the family farm. Ms. Hayes’ baby died shortly after birth and was buried on the farm.

After the murder charge against Joanne Hayes was dismissed, the Kerry Babies Tribunal was created to investigate the Gardaí’s behavior during the case.

The Court has been heavily criticized for the way it handled the case, from failing to examine the evidence fairly to the way witnesses were questioned.

Despite the lack of forensic evidence, the Court found that Ms. Hayes had assaulted her newborn son with a toilet brush and strangled him to death.

This finding was unfounded and was made despite the fact that former state pathologist Dr. John Harbison, who performed an autopsy, was unable to determine Shane’s cause of death.

Ms. Hayes and her brothers Edmund, Kathleen, and Michael Hayes have now requested that the Superior Court declare that all of the Court’s findings against them are unfounded and incorrect.