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05th Nov 2017

President Higgins confirms one of the biggest murder cases in Irish history to be re-examined

Five members of the Joyce family were brutally murdered in their home in Maamtrasna.

JOE

President Higgins

It was built on an unfair trial and bribes.

President Michael D. Higgins has called for eight men to receive posthumous pardons 135 years after their convictions for the Maamtrasna murders.

To give some background, the murders caused shock waves in Ireland, England and further afield as five members of one family, – Joyce’s – which ranged from little children to an elderly woman, were slaughtered in their cabin in an isolated area on the border of Mayo and Galway.

One badly-injured child survived as did a son of the Joyce family who had been away the night of the savage killing.

A local hatred formed on the back of sheep-stealing and was the reasoning behind the brutal killings but by the time that this fact came to light, innocent men had been jailed and one had been executed.

The evidence for which these men had been prosecuted on turned out to be false and given by informers and alleged witnesses who received around £1,250 which is the equivalent of about €160,000 today.

According to The Sunday Times, however, President Higgins confirmed in an interview that is featured in a new documentary about the murders that the Government had launched an investigation into the case.

Murdair Mhám Trasna, was made for TG4 and in it, the President said that the eight accused were denied a fair trial and that witnesses were bribed and that the men were viewed “as a race apart” by the British legal officials.

“The government has appointed an expert to examine the case. I look forward to receiving the expert’s opinion and the government’s advice on the matter,” Higgins said.

“If it were up to me, the formalities aside, I would be happy to accept that the injustice which occurred should be recognised,” he concluded.