by John Mooney
She then became very distressed and said that she could not go back under the bridge, or back into the flat at Richmond Cottages. Tears once again streamed from her eyes. She wept uncontrollably.
It took a few minutes for her to calm down and the gardaí gave her time to compose herself. It was no use. It was clear to all that she couldn’t contemplate approaching the actual scene of the killing because they brought back too many demons and nightmares.
Instead they went to Mountjoy Garda Station so they could show her the exhibits.
This relaxed her somewhat. On arrival in the station, Linda appeared quiet and asked for some coffee. As she sipped her coffee she was reminded that she wasn’t under arrest and she could leave at any time, but she said she wanted to stay and continue yet again.
They interviewed her for a few hours, and once again Linda became very emotional as she recalled what she had done to Noor. It was clear that she found it difficult to talk about the actual death, but she found some sort of peace in continuing to confess. This is perhaps why she always declined to take a break in garda custody and continued making her confession.
Soon after she finished the interview, Charlotte rang her on her mobile phone. When she heard Linda was with the gardaí, Charlotte told her that she also was going to talk to them.
Chapter Seven
‘It is easier to talk than to hold one’s tongue.’
- Greek Proverb
The news that Noor’s true name was Sheilila Salim, and that he was Kenyan, advanced the investigation. As a consequence, renewed efforts were made in the attempt to locate the victim’s family. This task was given to Gerry McDonnell, one of the detectives who had immersed himself in the inquiry.
When he received the news that Noor was not who he claimed to be; he once again dedicated himself to tracing the victim’s friends and family.
The detective sergeant liaised with Garda Headquarters, who in turn contacted Interpol, the international police agency. The actual process of locating the family was fraught with bureaucracy and took weeks. Though, eventually on 12 September, McDonnell received the news that his counterparts in Mombassa had spoken to a woman who they believed was Noor’s wife. Her name was Husna Mohamed Said. She had already been informed of the death.
Although Noor had abandoned her years before, leaving her to care for a young family; she was shocked and horrified when she was told what had become of him. Like Kathleen, Noor had brutalised her and abandoned his children for a life in Europe.
She answered McDonnell’s questions as best she could, and promised to do what she could to help. McDonnell, though, only required two things. The first were the contact details for the victim’s parents, and a copy of the birth certificate. For bureaucratic reasons, more than anything else, the team needed a copy of Noor’s birth certificate to clarify his identity.
As promised, she faxed a copy of Noor’s birth certificate, which confirmed that Noor had lied all along.
The document revealed that he had been born on 7 July 1965 in the Lamh District in the Coast Province in Kenya, and named Sheilila Salim. Among the general information it provided was the name and address of his mother, Somoe Bakari Shigoo. It stated that she lived in Mombassa.
This information opened up yet another line of investigation for McDonnell. He now began searching for the mother, whom he presumed was desperately worried about her son. It took him a further week to locate her, but when he did, he was told she spoke no English. He began searching for an interpreter to conduct the dialogue.
*****
At the beginning of his interview with Linda, Mangan could never have envisaged what would have happened. Linda, trapped in a nightmare of depression and guilt, had confessed. The investigation team had established, with as much certainty as possible, what had happened on the night of the killing; in other words, how the victim died, at whose hands and why.
The significance of this was not easily calculated. Mangan knew her decision to confess had been the beginning of a long process that would eventually result in her being charged.
No one outside the team had known about Linda’s decision to confess; or the contents of the statements she made. These had been transcribed and assembled into a book of evidence by Dan Kenna, a detective on the team. His forensic approach to the accuracy of the case reports ensured the body of evidence that was assembled was watertight. The relevant paperwork on the inquiry had been passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions by Mangan, in accordance with procedure.
The evidence against Linda was as clear as it was comprehensive. She had made confession after confession admitting her role in the killing. The confessions, dictated in her own words, were supported by hard evidence that had been found at the relevant scenes.
Mangan himself had attached a written report stating there was no doubt about Linda’s guilt. He recommended that she be charged.
And so, six months after Noor’s body parts were first discovered, a direction to prefer a murder charge was issued by Robert Sheehan, from the offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions to Detective Superintendent John McKeown, the police officer with overall responsibility for the investigation. Mangan received the instruction on 13 September.
He decided to make the arrest himself. He knew Linda, and in a way, she would have expected it. It was Mangan and Hickey whom she had made the confessions to. The low key meetings with the killer had achieved what the team had set out to accomplish; that was to solve the case, though anyone familiar with the events of the past weeks also knew that no member of the team, least of all Mangan, relished the task. Linda, as Charlotte, was a product of a society that had shaped their personalities.
The actual arrest took place the following day, hours after Mangan swore an oath seeking an arrest warrant before Judge Hugh O’Donnell in the Dublin District Court. The judge issued the warrant in private so as not to alert anyone to the unfolding drama.
When Mangan took possession of the arrest warrant, his first priority was to ensure that Linda’s children did not pay witness to their mother’s arrest. This was imperative. There was a genuine wish that everything should run as smoothly as possible, but no one wished to affect the children. The detectives on the team understood the importance of this.
The team arrived at the family home in Kilclare Gardens the following morning, shortly after 10am, when Linda’s children had left for school.
When Mangan arrived at the door of the council house, Linda instinctively knew the reason for the visit. When she opened the door; she didn’t say a word at first, but listened impassively as Mangan placed his hand on her arm, and administered a caution. She was stunned, but in some ways nonplussed; then she began to cry. In a few short moments her world began to fall apart.
Mangan treaded as softly as he could but he had a job to do; he asked her to get some things together and offered to help her get ready.
Her response took him by surprise. Struggling to pull herself together, she said she had packed in anticipation of this day, since the first day they had met. At that moment, she looked distraught.
There was nothing that any member of the team could say or do to console her, which is why they moved as quickly as possible to take her into custody.
Moments later, Mangan asked if she understood what had been said. He was referring to the caution. She nodded, prompting one of the team to hand her a tissue. He then directed her towards the door and into a waiting patrol car.
Before they left the house, Mangan rang Kevin Tunney, a solicitor from Tallaght who specialised in criminal law. He explained the purpose of the call, and passed his phone to Linda, who was now his prisoner. She had a brief conversation with the solicitor.
When she had gathered what few possessions she had, Linda was placed in a patrol car that took her to Mountjoy Garda Station. At that moment, she felt the end of t
he world had come.
*****
The group arrived in Mountjoy Station at 10.55am. On arrival, she was processed by the Duty Sergeant who took her name, details and age. When this process was completed at 11.22am, Sergeant Shay Roche formally charged her with Noor’s murder as set out on charge sheet No. 417567. The details of the charges were as follows:
‘That you the said accused on or about 20 March 2005 at Flat 1, 17 Richmond Cottages, Ballybough, Dublin 1, in said District Court area of Dublin Metropolitan District did murder one Sheilila Salim, otherwise known as Farah Swaleh Noor, contrary to common law.’
Her only response was to say ‘No’. This was of course in accordance with her legal instructions.
The next stage of the process was a formal court appearance at Court No. 44 in the Dublin District Court. It was here that she appeared before Judge Miriam Malone. Linda was not asked to address the court, apart from confirming her name.
Instead Mangan gave evidence of the arrest, which was perfunctory. Judge Malone then requested that she be medically examined and treated as appropriate. The hearing was over in minutes. She was next remanded in custody to appear the following Wednesday.
*****
Linda was not to know her mother had been arrested in Carlow and was still in custody. She had been re-arrested under Section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987, and detained once again for the murder of Farah Swaleh Noor. This time, the investigation team had new information.
Kathleen remained calm while in custody. She was polite to her interviewers, and never obnoxious.
During that period, she was subjected to a series of interviews aimed at enticing her to make a full statement about her knowledge of Noor’s untimely death.
Detective Sergeant Gerard McDonnell and Detective Garda Patrick Keegan were tasked with conducting most of this interview. While she spoke freely about how Noor subjected her to extreme violence, she did not confess to anything; though she did reveal more information about her relationship with Noor.
In the course of the interview, she claimed that Noor had threatened to kill her the week before he died.
According to a statement she made, she said: ‘I was getting my Social money for Farah and myself. I said to Farah, “I can’t keep collecting for you as you are working and if the Social find out my money will be stopped.” So I went to the Social Welfare and I told them I was not with Farah anymore, and I told them to stop his money. I asked them for a letter and they gave me a letter,’ she said.
‘Farah rang me that night and he told me I was a fucking liar, that I had his money. I told him I had a letter to say I wasn’t getting his money. I gave him the letter. He looked at it, read it, and said all I was was a fucking cunt, and said I wouldn’t get away with this.’
She maintained this altercation took place a week before he died.
‘He said to me, I am going to fucking kill you, just like I did with that whore in Dun Laoghaire,’ she added.
The fact that Noor had claimed responsibility for Raonaid Murray’s murder, prompted the detectives to ask what he meant.
‘I don’t know what he meant,’ replied Kathleen.
‘Was he talking about Raonaid Murray?’
‘Yes, her,’ she said.
‘I asked Farah not to kill me as I didn’t do anything on him. He started beating me and he threw me in the bedroom, in No. 17 Richmond Cottages. Then he tried to smother me with pillows and I couldn’t breathe. Then he jumped on top of me.
‘I don’t know where I got the strength from but I kicked him in the stomach, and he came off me. Then, when he got up, I made a 999 call and I said I would ring the police.
‘He ran out to the kitchen, and got a knife. He said I am going to chop you up into little pieces and eat you. I said, “You can’t. If Charlotte rings and I don’t answer she will know there is a problem and come to the house.” He said, “Kathy, I am going to chop you up into little pieces, put you in the fridge and eat you piece by piece.” He said no one will ever find you because I will tell them you fucked off.’
She continued: ‘So then he sits down, and started thinking, and calmed down. He said that if I ever told the police he would kill me or my family.
‘I told him to leave my flat and there would be no problem. So he took some stuff and he went.’
She maintained Noor moved out the week before 20 March. She elaborated further, claiming that she asked him to return the keys.
‘I said, “Farah can I have the keys of the house please?” He said “No,” he was keeping the keys. I told him to keep the keys and to fuck off. He then said “You will never get away from me.”’
There is no doubt that she was living in fear of her life, though she still didn’t make any admissions. Instead she maintained she had done nothing wrong, and that Noor had left her. After her period of detention ended, she was released without charge.
*****
That wasn’t the end of the matter. The investigation continued apace; in fact Linda’s appearance in court gave it fresh impetus. The inquiry had been written off as one that would never come to a successful conclusion. The direction to charge Linda with murder had dispelled that myth.
In this whirlwind of activity, McDonnell had continued in his efforts to try to locate the victim’s mother. He accomplished this task on 23 September, when Somoe Bakari Said received a call from a translator he hired. Through the translator McDonnell learned much about Noor’s history; for a start, he was told Noor had called himself Farah all his life. The mother explained the name was one that his father’s family had called him since he was a boy. But there was more. His mother said she had known that something was wrong when her son had stopped calling.
She initially thought he was ill, or possibly in prison, because he called every Saturday without fail, and had kept her informed of his new life, including his relationship with Kathleen.
The phone call was a traumatic one. The image of her son, stabbed in the neck, and dying slowly in Ireland, far away from her home, had haunted her. She had many sleepless nights. The only thing that gave her some consolation was her grandchildren, and the memory of the son she loved.
McDonnell was struck by her sadness, and asked if she had ever spoken to Kathleen. The answer took him by surprise. The family had.
In an ironic twist, she often sent Noor clothes to sustain him in Ireland. In fact, she had sent one on 3 March; furthermore her son had called on 7 March to see if she had sent it, as he had still not received it.
As she couldn’t speak English, Noor’s cousin, Lulu Swaleh, had called Kathleen on 10 March to ask if the parcel had arrived. Kathleen had replied that it had, but claimed that Noor had left her for another woman.
The family did not know what to make of her statement but accepted it on face value. They had not heard from him since.
Perhaps the most saddening part of the call was her recollection of the last time she spoke to her son. McDonnell listened in silence as she recounted that conversation, which took place sometime between 15 and 20 March.
The memory of that conversation was clear in her mind. Her son, she said without contradiction, had been distant, almost as if he was trying to say sorry for things that had happened in the past. She sensed trouble; something sinister. She woke feeling troubled by the conversation for no clear reason. Soon she would learn the terrible fate that had befallen her son.
She went on to tell the interpreter that Lulu Swaleh, her nephew, had called Kathleen in the months that followed the disappearance asking about Noor, but she had maintained that he had left her.
McDonnell took down the details as best he could as the interpreter relayed the times, dates and her recollections of the long distance calls.
There was one that was of particular interest to the detective sergeant. One night around 2am, Kathleen rang Lulu in a dist
ressed state, speaking about Farah. She had been incoherent and didn’t make sense. Although he wasn’t sure why, Noor’s cousin felt that something was seriously wrong.
The call remained etched in his mind because the family had never heard from Kathleen again, nor Noor, whom had vanished without trace from their lives.
Chapter Eight
‘Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult.’
- George Eliot
The appearance of Linda in the District Court, on murder charges, terrified Charlotte. She felt weak and vulnerable but she also felt this growing sense of unease. Like Linda, she couldn’t sleep at night and found it difficult to maintain any semblance of normality in the face of extreme internal pressure and depression. She too had flashbacks of the night she killed Noor and dismembered his body. She played it over again and again in her mind.
She couldn’t help but think of her own terrifying predicament; the weakness of her position was now apparent. If Linda had been charged with murder, she knew it was only a matter of time before she was re-arrested and brought to court. No matter what way she examined the situation, no matter what the context, she came to the conclusion that she was doomed.
There is no doubt that her father attempted to convince her to confess, but she was too afraid. She was terrified.
Whether it was because she had physically killed Noor, and been the instigator of the dismemberment that she chose to remain silent will never be known. Matters were not helped because she was now leading a dysfunctional life, moving between homes and taking drugs. This left her in a humiliating position insofar as her immediate family did not know of her problems, and she desperately wanted to get on with her life. She was a girl in need of urgent help.
