Jury finds man guilty of murdering girlfriend’s mother in her Tipperary home

A JURY AT the Central Criminal Court today found a man guilty of the murder of his then girlfriend’s mother (89), two years ago.

Hasan Ali Gori (52), a native of Chad, Africa, with an address in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, showed no reaction when the verdict was read out shortly after 2pm on Tuesday afternoon.

The jury returned a majority verdict of 11-1 against Gori, following a three-week trial in Limerick.

The victim, Josephine “Josie” Ray, died trying to “fight off” Gori as he strangled her in her bed at her home at St Joseph’s Park, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, the trial heard.

Evidence given by State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney was that the victim died of strangulation and smothering.

McCartney said the great-grandmother sustained two broken bones in her neck, and was covered in bruises, 44 in total, to her head, neck, face, shoulders, chest, arms and legs.

“Josie Ray didn’t go down without a fight,” senior prosecuting counsel Lorcan Connolly told the jury in his closing address.

“The prosecution say bruises to her forearms is evidence of Josie’s struggle as she tried to fight off the accused as he was trying to strangle her,” argued Connolly.

Ms Ray’s arms were upright by her face when her body was found in her bed, in a front room at her home, on 4 August 2024, the court heard.

“The prosecution say Josie caught her killer and in doing so, in defending herself, she suffered damage to her forearms,” added Connolly.

Connolly argued it was “significant” that Gori’s DNA was found on Josie Ray’s right hand and underneath her fingernails.

“Unbeknownst to himself, Hasan Ali Gori left his calling card, his DNA under Josie’s fingernails,” the barrister said.

Josie rarely left Mary out of her sight because Mary has an intellectual disability and was described as a “vulnerable” adult.

Josie did not approve of Mary having a relationship with Gori, who had been living in a hostel, before moving in with the Tipperary mother and daughter.

Before Ms Ray’s death, gardaí had gone to her house after receiving complaints from neighbours of constant rowing between Josie, Mary and Gori, at the property.

On the night before Ms Ray’s death, neighbours reported seeing Gori headbutting Mary Ray and telling her he was “sick” of living with her mother, and, that either he or Josie Ray would have to leave the house.

Connolly suggested Gori had “motive” and “opportunity” to murder Josie. He argued Gori was “at risk” of being evicted from the house and losing out on social welfare payments attached to a disability allowance being claimed by Mary.

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“He’d struck lucky, he had a roof over his head, he had an attachment to the house, he was at risk of losing the roof over his head and losing the payment from the Department of Social Welfare.”

Connolly suggested Gori was also “upset” and “annoyed” at Josie Ray using “racist” slurs, allegedly calling him a “black bastard” and hitting him with a fireside poker.

Connolly said Gori was “wholly indifferent” and “callous” to Mary Ray’s grief and told her to “shut up” when she cried at her death and told her that Josie was “old” and “was going to die anyway”.

In his closing speech, Gori’s barrister, senior counsel Aidan Doyle, said the court had heard from a former neighbour that Josie and Mary Ray were “constantly rowing about Mary bringing African men back to the house” before Gori came on the scene.

The neighbour told the court she also saw Mary threaten Josie with a knife, nine years previously.

Doyle highlighted the evidence of Carmel Ray, a sister of Mary Ray, who told the court that Mary was “very kind, and shy” but she sometimes “couldn’t control her emotions”.

Carmel Ray claimed Mary had assaulted another sibling when she was a teenager, and that following another incident, Mary was so upset that it took “five” gardaí to “restrain” her.

Doyle had told the jury: “If you think it’s even possible that Mary did it, you have to acquit (Gori).”

Doyle said the jury had heard evidence that Mary Ray was “possessive and jealous” of Gori, and she had broken a toilet door in the house because she suspected the accused was looking at other women on his mobile phone when he went into the bathroom.

Gori’s barrister suggested that, on the night before Josie Ray’s death, Mary Ray was in a “wound-up state of panic” because Gori “was leaving”.

Doyle asked the jury to consider an “alternative” theory to what the prosecution had put forward: “How do the guards (gardaí) know Mary Ray didn’t do this? Why was she dropped from the investigation, you haven’t heard from her?”

Doyle argued that persons with intellectual disabilities can give evidence in courts using established supports.

“They didn’t call on (Mary), or say why she isn’t here to give evidence,” said Doyle.

Doyle told the jury that if they had any doubt about Gori’s alleged involvement in the killing they could not find him guilty.

Having deliberated for a total of eight hours and 52 minutes, the jury of nine men and three women decided by 11-1 jurors that Gori was guilty of murder.

Mr Justice Seán Gillane thanked the jury for their “very very difficult work” and the “care you brought to that work”.

Justice Gillane said the State was “genuinely in your debt” for the care it brought to its deliberations.

“It’s not easy work, it is fundamental to democracy. Thank you on behalf of the community for the care with which you brought to your task.”

It is understood Mr Justice Gillane will pass the mandatory life sentence for murder on Gori later this afternoon, after the court hears victim impact statements from the family of Josie Ray.