Grandfather who provided shelter to man who stabbed him to death was ‘repaid with betrayal’

A judge has said that a father of four who provided shelter to a person in hardship later saw his kindness repaid with “cruel savagery” when the same man stabbed him to death at his home in Macroom, Co Cork. Daniel Hourigan (33) was on Thursday jailed for life the murder of Michael Foley. The grandfather of 12 was found dead at his home in Annville, Barrett’s Place, in Macroom, Co Cork, on February 6th, 2024. Earlier this month, a jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork found Hourigan guilty of the murder of the 61-year-old. The native of Clonakilty in west Cork had suffered 11 stab wounds, 19 incised and defensive wounds and 34 blunt force trauma injuries. Hourigan, who was originally from Farranree in Cork city, had lived in the Macroom home of Michael Foley for several weeks in the spring of 2023.READ MOREThe trial had heard that Michael Foley had encountered a then homeless and struggling Hourigan in Cork city. Hourigan was known to him and he immediately offered to give him temporary accommodation. Dt Sgt Danielle Hegarty told a sentencing hearing in Cork on Thursday that Hourigan and his then partner Linda O’Flynn had gone to visit Michael Foley at his Macroom home on January 31st, 2024.The couple stayed overnight and left the property the following morning. They took a bus to Cork city with Hourigan leaving the murder weapon in a refuse bag in the cargo area of a bus to Cork city. They did not retrieve the bag when they got off the bus in Cork city.Bus driver Paudie McKenna gave evidence at the trial of finding the knife in the bag. He said that for safety reasons the knife was discarded in a skip for metals at the bus depot in Cork. It was retrieved by members of the Garda in the aftermath of the murder. Hourigan was found dead in a pool of his own blood in the kitchen/livingroom area of his home five days after the couple left the property. O’Flynn, who is originally from Holyhill in Cork city, was previously sentenced to seven years imprisonment for covering up the murder.Ray Boland, SC, for the defence, on Thursday said that his client plans to lodge an appeal in his case. He still maintains his innocence and blames O’Flynn for the murder. In his direct evidence, Hourigan insisted that he had a good relationship with the man. He claimed that he had asked him to be the godfather of his unborn child just hours before his partner killed him. He also stated that at the time he thought O’Flynn was pregnant and lied to gardaí in order to protect her. Caroline Foley, the eldest daughter of the deceased, addressed Hourigan directly as she delivered her victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing. She said that her father was more than a victim in the case. Caroline Foley and her father Michael. Photograph: Courtesy of the Foley family “He was grandad to 12 beautiful grandchildren who adored him. He was the heart of our family. He was the person we turned to when life was hard, the first to help when someone needed him, and the last person to ever ask for anything in return,” she said.She said that the deepest pain that the family carry involves knowing that the kindness of their father was “repaid with betrayal”.“You [Hourigan] accepted his generosity. You accepted his trust. You accepted the roof he gave you over your head. Then you repaid the man who helped you in the most unimaginable way possible,” she said.Molly Foley, a sister of Michael Foley, said in her victim impact statement that she felt haunted by what her brother had endured in his final moments. “We cannot begin to imagine the fear, pain, loneliness and suffering he endured as he lay dying on his own, abandoned by someone he trusted.”Judge Siobhan Lankford said that the grandfather had provided a safe haven to Hourigan when he was trying to come off heroin. She said that it was particularly troubling that Hourigan had opted to leave the house in Macroom on the morning of February 1st, 2024, at a time when he knew that Michael Foley was still alive.She sentenced Hourigan to mandatory life imprisonment and offered her sincere condolences to the relatives of the deceased following their seismic loss.