Saved from the gallows: story of the reprieved

Lifestyle –  Judy Murphy talks to author Colm Wallace whose new book tells the story of those who survived death sentences

When it came to reporting murder trials in the early days of the Irish State, newspapers didn’t hold back on gory details.

Plenty of these grisly contemporary reports are contained in a new book, Sentenced to Death: Saved from the Gallows, written by Renvyle man Colm Wallace. It charts the stories of people who were sentenced to hang in Ireland between 1922 and 1990, only to have their sentences commuted by the government.

Out of the book’s 30 cases, two are from Galway. One relates to a murder in Rosmuc in 1928, and the other deals with a 1943 murder in Bushypark in the city.

Colm got the idea of writing Sentenced to Death a few years ago when he read an article on the death penalty in Ireland – most people aren’t aware that it wasn’t abolished until 1990, he says, explaining that by then, it was reserved for those guilty of capital murder, such as killing a Garda or soldier.  For other kinds of ‘common’ murder, it had been abolished in 1964. The last death sentence was passed in 1985, before Colm was born and was for the murder of Garda Sergeant, Patrick Morrissey in Co Louth.

Colm, a 28-year-old primary teacher, has always loved history. When he studied for his BA in Education at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, his first-year subjects included history and German. He did Irish alongside education for his degree, because he loves Irish too, he adds. That came from his mother, Anne, who is originally from Baile na nGall in the Kerry Gaeltacht. Colm’s dad, Mark Wallace is from Renvyle where he’s very involved in GAA.

Twenty-nine people were hanged in Ireland before the death penalty was abolished in 1964 for ‘common’ murder, with the last hanging being carried out in 1954, says Colm.

He was fascinated by the stories surrounding these executions but a good deal had been written about them, so he turned his gaze elsewhere.

“I wondered what it would have been like to be sentenced to death and then told you had been reprieved,” he explains. “And there was very little information about that.”

So Colm, who had long been determined to write a book, decided to tackle that subject.

He began writing Sentenced to Death last July, treating the project like a 9-5 job and working every weekday through July and August, then every Saturday once he resumed teaching duties in Athenry.

The trial that really inspired him to explore the stories of commuted death sentences was that of Patrick Aylward from Kilkenny, who was sentenced to hang in 1923 for murdering a neighbouring infant, William Holden.

There was bad blood between Aylward and the Holdens and Aylward was accused of visiting the Holden house while their parents were away from home, and murdering the toddler by putting him in the fire. He strenuously denied any involvement in the child’s dreadful death, but the other Holden children gave graphic evidence to the contrary.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.