paula canty

Joseph Butler previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Paula Canty in Mallow, Co Cork on 3 January 2025.

SENTENCING OF A man who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a Cork mother of two has been adjourned until October arising out of difficulties caused by the solicitors’ strike.

Joseph Butler (43) who is originally from Midleton, Co Cork previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Paula Canty (31) in Mallow, Co Cork on 3 January 2025.

He had previously been charged with the murder contrary to common law of Canty at the Belfry, Bridewell Lane in Mallow.

Ms Canty, a native of Kinsale, Co Cork died three days before her 32nd birthday.

At a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork in April, Donal O’Sullivan SC, for the prosecution, said that a plea of manslaughter was acceptable to the state.

At that time, he asked that a probation report be prepared in advance of the sentencing hearing.

Last month, O’Sullivan told the court that the probation report was available and the case was ready to be finalised.

The sentencing hearing was due to take place today at the Central Criminal Court in Cork. However, defence barrister Ray Boland SC said that he did not have instructions in the case. The situation has arisen because of the strike by solicitors over legal aid.

Judge Siobhan Lankford adjourned the case for finalisation on 5 October next.

Ms Canty was pronounced dead in an upper storey rented flat in Mallow in January 2025.

A postmortem examination was carried out at Cork University Hospital by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster. The investigation was then formally upgraded to a murder probe.

An inquest in July of last year heard that Canty suffered haemorrhage and shock after she sustained a stab wound to the thorax.

Cork Coroner’s Court briefly opened the inquest in to the death of native of Kinsale in the county. Bolster carried out a postmortem on 4 January 2025 in the morgue in Cork city.

Mourners at her funeral in St John the Baptist Church in Kinsale, Co Cork on 11 January 2025 heard that Ms Canty was creative with a “kind heart” and had a “soft, pleasant nature.”

Fr Robert Young said that no parent should have to suffer the loss of a child.

“To lose a son or daughter is a particular kind of grief. It is not the natural scheme of things that a son or daughter would die before their parent.

“It is certainly not the natural scheme of things that a parent would have to experience the murder of a son or daughter.”