The questions asked by a grieving mum
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MAJELLA Holohan delivered an emotional victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing of Robert's friend and neighbour, Wayne O'Donoghue, last January.
Her most shocking revelation was that semen had been found on her son's body, a fact that had not been made public until then.
Speaking on behalf of her family, husband Mark and children Emma and Harry, the distraught mother posed a series of tough questions as she took the witness box: "Our doctors have told us to try and get on with our lives, but how can we knowing there was semen found on my son's body? Would you kill someone for throwing stones at your car? The forensics couldn't find the stone marks on the car. If it was an accident, why didn't he (O'Donoghue) call me, or a doctor or his parents?
"Why were there no fingerprints found on Rob's phone -- even Rob's own fingerprints? Who wiped it clean and deleted images from it?
"Wayne contacted him (Robert) at 6am in the morning. Why did a 20-year-old contact an 11-year-old at that hour of the morning? What was Robert doing at Wayne's bedroom at 7.30am when he was supposed to be at a sleep-over at his other friend's house?
"Why did my little boy ring 999 later that morning as the phone shows he did?"
She finished off by saying that whatever the outcome of the criminal trial, they would never find peace.
Robert's disappearance a year earlier, on January 4, 2005, sparked a massive garda investigation and saw thousands of volunteers descend on Ballydesmond, Midleton, Co Cork, to take part in the search. Just over a week later, the Holohans' worst fears were realised when the body of their son was found dumped in a ditch near Inch Strand. He had been strangled.
The day after Robert's funeral, O'Donoghue confessed to his parents that he had killed Robert. He denied murder, saying he had accidentally killed the schoolboy in a row after Robert threw stones at his car.
