THE tragic, unsolved Kerry Babies case rocked Ireland in 1984.
Here’s what we know about the woman who was wrongly accused, and where she might be now.
People took to the streets to support Joanne Hayes at the Kerry Babies Tribunal, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Who is Joanne Hayes?
Joanne Hayes was born in 1959, into a farming family in Abbeydorney, near Tralee in County Kerry, in Ireland.
It is thought that in the early 1980s, Hayes was in a relationship with a married man, named Jeremiah Locke, with whom she had one daughter, Yvonne.
Hayes was living with her mother, sister, two brothers, and an aunt, and working at the Tralee Sports and Leisure Centre at the time.
What was the Kerry Babies case?
On April 14, 1984, a newborn baby boy was found dead, with 28 stab wounds, on White Strand beach at Caherciveen, in County Kerry, south-west Ireland.
The baby, who was found by farmer Jack Griffin, became known as Baby John.
Neither the parents nor the killer of Baby John have been found, although the case was re-opened in 2018.
What was Joanne Hayes accused of?
The Irish authorities soon became aware of a woman named Joanne Hayes who lived in north Kerry.
Hayes had been admitted to hospital on the same day as the baby had been found dead on the beach, and was found to have given birth to a baby.
Hayes was arrested by the Gardai and Hayes, thinking that the baby she had buried had been found, confessed to the murder of the baby found in Caherciveen.
The family’s confession was then withdrawn, and they admitted that Hayes’ baby was stillborn on the family farm, where it had been buried in secret.
Blood testing at the time revealed that Hayes and her boyfriend Jeremiad, did not share a blood type with Baby John.
The Irish police, or Gardai, apologised to Hayes in 2018, after DNA conclusively proved she was not Baby John’s mother, 34 years after she was wrongly accused.
Superintendent Flor Murphy said: “On behalf of An Garda Siochana, I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for [the police conduct], as well as the awful stress and pain she has been put through as a result of the original investigation into this matter, which fell well short of the required standards.”
A couple in their 50s were arrested, and later released.
Where is Joanne Hayes now?
The whereabouts of Hayes are unknown, and she keeps out of the public eye.
Hayes received €2.5 million in damages in 2022 over her wrongful arrest.
Hayes’ now 40-year-old daughter Yvonne McGuckin was to receive €100,000.
In 1985, Hayes published a short book, called My Story.
In that same year, journalist Nell McCafferty published: “A Woman to Blame: The Kerry Babies Crisis,” which touched upon the conservative, patriarchal social attitudes which were common in Ireland at the time.
A film was made about the Kerry Babies case, released in 2019, starring Fiona Shaw.
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