Man who murdered ex-wife's partner in Clare town has a history of domestic violence, inquest hears

The man who murdered Ennis man, Eoin Boylan in a knife attack four years ago has a history of domestic violence and put a knife up to his ex-partner "a good few times" an inquest has heard.

At the inquest into the death of the 32-year-old Limerick native, Susan Ahmed (nee O'Doherty) said that she obtained a Barring Order in the past against convicted murderer and her ex-husband, Nassar Ahmed.

In June 2022 at the Central Criminal Court, Nassar Ahmed - who is originally from Sudan in north Africa - was convicted of the murder of Eoin Boylan at Gordon Drive, Cloughleigh, Ennis on April 14 2020.

In her deposition at the inquest, Ms Ahmed said her ex-husband "can’t fight with his hands - he has gone down to other people with knives”. 

She said: "He has put a knife up to me a good few times."

Ms Ahmed said that in a row with a neighbour in 2018, "Nassar went down to the house and I saw him put a long knife down his trousers before he went."

She said: "He is a very violent person."

At the inquest, which was heard in Kilrush, eyewitness accounts recounted how at around 3pm on April 14, 2020 Mr Ahmed had a knife concealed on him before making three lunges at Mr Boylan who pleaded with Mr Ahmed to stop after being stabbed.

The 42-year-old stabbed Mr Boylan in front of his mother, Catherine Martin who told the inquest that her son told her at the scene 'He stabbed me mum. Why did he stab me? Why did he stab me?’

Mrs Martin said that during the row, Nassar Ahmed had called his ex-wife “a whore” at the scene. The three young Ahmed children were in the back-garden of the home and were ‘balling’ pleading with their father to stop arguing.

Eoin Boylan, the inquest heard, had recently begun a relationship with Susan Ahmed.

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In her own deposition, Susan Ahmed who provided support to Mrs Martin at the inquest - said that despite Eoin Boylan asking Nassar Ahmed to stop, he continued to hit him. Nassar Ahmed walked away from the scene and presented himself at Ennis garda station the same afternoon.

Ms Martin comforted her son at the scene before first responders removed him to an ambulance at the scene. Mrs Martin told the inquest: "I got the strangest feeling before he went into the ambulance that he wouldn't be coming back.”

In the stationary ambulance, Mr Boylan went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead shortly at 4.35pm. Susan Ahmed said that when she first introduced Nassar Ahmed to her new partner, Eoin Boylan “he shook Eoin’s hands and said 'once you are happy, it doesn’t matter’ he said to me and Eoin”.

She said however that Nassar Ahmed’s attitude towards Mr Boylan subsequently changed. Ms Ahmed said that she first met Nassar Ahmed aged 19 and within six months he asked her to marry him.

They got married and moved to Cork and in her deposition she said: "When I was in Cork, Nassar started to abuse me."

The witness added: "I had no one around and it was weeks before I would meet any of my family and if I had any marks, they would be gone before anyone would see them. Nassar used to hit me."

Susan Ahmed stated: "I had to go to the gardai when the ‘big one’ happened and I had to go to Clarecare to get help. I had marks all over my neck and my body."

Ms Ahmed said that Nassar Ahmed "didn’t like Clarcare being involved and after a while he said that he wanted Clarecare gone. He didn’t want them calling to the house and I would have to tell them everything was fine."

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The inquest heard that Clarecare was with the couple for about five years because there was a lot going on. "There was still abuse every day but I had to lie to Clarecare to get rid of them. I had to tell them that we were doing a lot better when we weren’t. Clarecare stopped calling and the abuse kept going."

Susan Ahmed added that her ex-husband "has been gone since December 28, 2018.”

Having considered the evidence, a jury found that Mr Boylan died as a result of murder.