Maura Thornton (38) from Inverin, Connemara, Co Galway was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with the final three suspended in 2013 after she was found guilty of the manslaughter of her former partner Kevin Joyce (59) outside her apartment in Salthill in Galway on July 3rd, 2011. She was due to appear at the Central Criminal Court this morning where Mr Justice Paul McDermott wished to deal with her failure to adhere to the conditions of her suspended sentence. When she failed to show up Mr Justice McDermott issued a warrant for her arrest. Her defence barrister Blaise O'Carroll SC said he had received no contact from Ms Thornton and could not say where she was.
Since her release from prison the Central Criminal Court has heard that she has broken the terms of the suspended sentence that required her not to drink alcohol. At a previous hearing Ms Thornton told the court that she "succumbed to the drink" partly out of a feeling of isolation brought on by covid-19 restrictions. At today's hearing Paul Carroll SC for the State said that Ms Thornton had "fallen by the wayside in terms of drug and alcohol abuse."
Mr Justice McDermott said Ms Thornton's life is "chaotic" and needs to be steadied but added that he wants to impress on her the importance of her reengagement with probation services and addiction treatment.
