Galway Bay fm newsroom – A Connemara woman who killed her former partner nine years ago has been sent back to prison for two months after she breached the conditions of her suspended sentence.
A bench warrant was issued on Wednesday for the arrest of Maura Thornton and she was brought before Mr Justice Paul McDermott at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday.
The 38 year old from Inverin was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with the final three suspended in 2013 after she was found guilty of the manslaughter of her former partner, 59 year old Kevin Joyce, outside her apartment in Salthill on July 3, 2011.
She was due to appear at the Central Criminal Court this week over her failure to adhere to the conditions of her suspended sentence that required her not to drink alcohol.
When she failed to show up Judge McDermott issued a warrant for her arrest.
At a previous hearing, she told the court that she "succumbed to the drink" partly out of a feeling of isolation brought on by Covid-19 restrictions.
On Wednesday Paul Carroll SC, for the State, said that Ms Thornton had "fallen by the wayside in terms of drug and alcohol abuse."
Last evening, Mr Justice McDermott requested a psychiatric assessment and updated probation report for Ms Thornton, when she was brought before the Central Criminal Court.
He said the defendant needed a period of two months in prison to get things under control and stabilise matters.
The judge remanded Ms Thornton in custody for two months without activating the suspended part of her sentence.
