‘Pure evil’ stepmother beat 4-year-old boy to death leaving his whole body bruised | World | News

The “evil” stepmother found guilty of murdering a four-year-old boy in her care has been identified as 32-year-old Tegan McGhie after a judge decided to lift an order banning her name from being published.

His Honor Judge Paul McDermott sentenced McGhee to life imprisonment for the murder of Mason O’Connell Conway on March 16, 2021, at a property he rented with the boy’s father in Rathbane, Limerick.

The boy’s father, John Paul O’Connell, 36, was previously sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting knowing or believing that McGhee had killed his son, endangering him, neglecting him, and hindering McGhee’s apprehension or prosecution.

Mason (4) was found seriously injured at a residence in Rathbane, Limerick City, on 13 March 2021. He was pronounced dead three days later.

Mr Justice McDermott also sentenced McGhee to four years and six months in prison for two counts of cruelty to children in the weeks and months before the murder. These sentences for violence against children will be served concurrently with life imprisonment.

Mr Justice McDermott offered his “deepest condolences” to the boy’s mother, Elizabeth Conway, and the wider family.

The court was told the boy’s father contacted emergency services on March 13, 2021, to report that his son had fallen from the top bunk of his bed an hour earlier and was unresponsive. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they found the child motionless on the bedroom floor.

Although he was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency intervention and surgery, tragically he could not be saved. Medical professionals observed multiple bruises of varying ages on the child’s face, head, torso, and legs, indicative of non-accidental injury or abuse.

The father attempted to explain the injuries by claiming that his son was “the clumsiest kid ever” and that he had been injured from running into a door or playing football.

But the stepmother’s trial revealed the boy had been physically abused for weeks and was locked in his room for four days before his stepmother shook him and hit his head on the floor. He also suffered a blunt force injury to his abdomen, which caused a laceration to his liver.

A pathologist determined that head injury or liver damage could independently result in death.

The defendant described the boy as a “brave cheeky boy” who often needed to be punished. When he was punished, he was forbidden to leave his room except to use the toilet and was made to sit on the floor rather than on his bed.

The defendant told Gardai that on the day the boy was fatally injured, he remembered Gardai “crunching” and “shaking him and screaming for him to come to his senses” before he fell to the ground.

The boy’s mother, Elizabeth Conway, said in a statement earlier this week that her son was born “a fine, healthy little boy” in early 2016. She portrayed him as “a bright little boy who brought so much love and happiness into our lives.”

“He had the biggest smile and the most beautiful brown eyes. He was the perfect little boy,” she recalled.

At just 18 months old, he was potty trained, proudly adopted the title of “little man” and preferred to walk rather than ride in his car.

She added that her love for her younger siblings is clear, always willing to help them out with kisses and cuddles. A cherished memory for Ms Conway is the video of her son serenading his little sister with the song ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’.

“He was a very affectionate little boy,” he confirmed.

When she saw a homeless man on the street, she begged her mother to offer the man a pizza, and later that night, she expressed concern for the man’s health and asked for assurances from her mother that he would be “okay.”

After “the worst phone call a mother could ever receive”, Ms Conway said she was in hospital with the child’s father and the defendant when doctors delivered the devastating news that there was nothing more they could do. Faced with “the most difficult decision a mother can make”, the woman chose to turn off her son’s life support.

Before this could happen, however, O’Connell and McGhee demanded to be left alone with him.

He said: “I can only imagine what they said to my poor child’s lifeless body.”

After the life support machine was turned off, she described witnessing her “beautiful little child’s heartbeat gradually dropping until it plateaued” and pleaded with doctors to restart the machine.

He held the funeral himself and recalled that the boy’s father and stepmother “stood in God’s holy house and told him how much they loved him and that he was a superhero.”

He said his life was taken by “pure evil” by someone his son “loved and trusted”.