In January of this year, the Garda Serious Crime Review Team began a cold case review of the investigation.
It was announced earlier in the week that a house-to-house investigation was being undertaken in south Kerry into the unsolved case involving the death of a newborn baby boy in 1984.
According to An Garda Síochána, approximately 20 Gardaí – both uniformed and detectives – are undertaking the canvas.
It was announced on Tuesday by Superintendent Flor Murphy that “selective DNA sampling is ongoing and this is a key focus of the investigation.”
The DNA samples have been taken voluntarily, at the request of investigating Gardaí, to try to find a match with Baby John. According to RTÉ, most of the samples taken are that of women.
Gardaí are attempting to find Baby John’s family.
“Baby John lived for five days so someone somewhere knows about his very short life,” Superintendent Murphy said.
“Someone is Baby John’s mother. Someone is Baby John’s father. Someone knew his mother or father. This is an opportunity for them to help bring closure to this terrible event and ensure that Baby John receives justice.”
The Kerry Babies case follows the discovery of Baby John’s body in Caherciveen, the subsequent discovery of the body of a second baby on a farm near Abbeydorney in north Kerry and the charging of local woman Joanne Hayes who was charged with the murder of Baby John, in May 1984.
The charge of murder against her and charges of concealment of the birth against four other members of her family were subsequently dropped on the instruction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardai were widely criticised for their handling of the situation, leading the public body to formally apologise to the Kerry woman earlier this year, some 34 years after her accusation.
They also confirmed that forensic evidence has proved that Joanne Hayes was not the mother of the child.
“On behalf of An Garda Síochána, I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for that, as well as the awful stress and pain she has been put through as a result of the original investigation into this matter, which fell well short of the required standards,” Superintendent Murphy said.
“The Tribunal headed by Mr Justice Kevin Lynch into that investigation rightly criticised many aspects of that investigation. For those failings, I apologise.”
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