Mystery as son kills parents and himself
Two rifles found beside three bodies in kitchen of farmhouse
Local parish priest Fr Tom Dillon outside the house at Grangecon, Co Wicklow after the bodies were discovered
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Tuesday July 17 2007
TWO rifles were recovered by gardai yesterday after a couple in their eighties were apparently shot dead by their son who then killed himself.
The three deaths were described as a 'terrible tragedy'.
And gardai confirmed they were not looking for anybody else in connection with the incident.
The two .22 rifles were found beside the bodies in the kitchen of the two-storey farmhouse in the townland of Ballynure, a mile outside the west Wicklow village of Grangecon.
The victims were members of a well-known and respected family in the farming community.
Locals were numbed last night as they tried to cope with the tragedy.
The dead were named as John Joe Sleator (84), his wife Mary (80) and their son, Patrick (42).
Last night gardai were trying to contact a sister of the elderly couple and their daughter, who both lived overseas, to deliver the grim news to them.
In a statement issued on behalf of the family, a friend said last night: "The tragic deaths of Mr John Joe Sleator, his wife Mary, and son Patrick, have shocked their immediate family.
"The family need time to come to grips with this appalling tragedy and would ask the media to allow them some consideration and privacy so that they can deal with their grief and loss."
The alarm was raised at 10.50am yesterday.
This was after a neighbour called to the farmhouse and came upon the bodies on the kitchen floor.
The gardai were contacted and immediately sealed off the farmhouse, which is close to Rathsallagh golf club. A team of forensic experts from the Garda technical bureau in Dublin and State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, arrived at the scene yesterday afternoon. Detectives carried out a preliminary search of the house.
Meanwhile Dr Cassidy examined the bodies before they were removed for a post mortem examination.
Their initial findings were studied by investigating officers at a garda conference last night in Baltinglass station where an incident room was set up.
The post mortem examination will determine when the shootings took place.
But neighbours pointed out that the Sleators had not attended Sunday Mass.
Nor had they collected their newspapers and that was regarded as unusual.
Initial inquiries indicated that the shootings may have taken place some time after midnight on Saturday night.
The three were all involved in the local church.
Parish priest, Fr Tommy Dillon last night paid tribute to the contribution they had made to the community.
He said Patrick Sleator was a sculptor and metal worker and helped with the collections in the Blessed Oliver Plunkett church.
His parents had played an active part in the choir and performed readings in the church in Grangecon, which is between Baltinglass and Dunlavin.
Patrick was unmarried. He had continued to live in the family home when two sisters moved to Limerick and England.
He had worked as a farm machinery and earthmoving equipment contractor before taking up an interest in sculpture.
Neighbours were devastated as news of the shootings spread throughout the area yesterday.
One family friend said: "The community is gutted and numbed to the core by what has happened."
He added: "They were good neighbours and well liked in the community.
"They loved a game of golf," he said.
Both parents had been prominent members of Baltinglass golf club.
John Joe was club president in 1997 and Mary, a retired teacher who taught in Dunlavin for 30 years, was lady president in 1994.
Last night the bodies were removed to Naas hospital.
Post mortem examinations will be carried out at the hospital this morning.
Local Fine Gael TD Billy Timmins last night extended his sympathy to the family of the Sleators.
He said the family was hugely respected and the community was stunned by "this terrible event".
- Tom Brady and Dara de Faoite
