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People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger has accused the media of stoking up “the flames of racism” by publishing the nationality of the asylum seeker suspect wanted over the suspected murder of Jamey Carney.
Mother of one Jamey Carney, who was from the Westchester area of New York, was found dead with violent injuries at her home in Killarney on Tuesday. The investigation into her death has been updated to a murder probe following the completion of a post-mortem examination.
However, it was revealed today that the prime suspect for the murder of Ms Carney managed to flee Ireland within hours of her brutal killing.
Sources told the Irish Mirror that officers have now learned that the Middle Eastern asylum seeker flew out of Dublin Airport to Istanbul in Turkey on Tuesday morning – hours before the body of 43 year old Ms Carney was found hidden under a blanket in her bedroom.
Gardai had hoped that the suspect, who lived at an IPAS centre in Killarney and was known to Ms Carney, was still in the country. They are now working with international law enforcement agencies, including interpol, to trace the suspect’s whereabouts.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Ruth Coppinger TD criticised the mainstream media for publishing the nationality of the main suspect – after the details were broken in the press by the Irish Mirror’s Crime and Defence editor, Michael O’Toole, on Wednesday.
“Minister, when are you going to tackle the violent misogyny being spread by internet companies?” asked Coppinger.
“The rise in violent misogyny has run parallel to the rise in the statistics for violence against women. Also, Minister, will the government contact mainstream media outlets that yesterday, irresponsibly stoked up the flames of racism, by reporting that an asylum seeker was being sought for the murder?”
“The common denominator in violence against women is a man, not a nationality,” claimed Coppinger.
She was speaking during leaders’ questions, which were directed at Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke.
The left-wing TD said that statistics from women’s aid that showed that 88 per cent of women were killed by somebody known to them “disputes any notion that this is anything to do with strangers, asylum seekers, or whatever.”
Coppinger said that the issue of femicide had become a “public health emergency”.
“Just to say,” added Coppinger, “The latest victim of femicide is being victim-blamed for her own death thanks to media outlets that irresponsibly stoked racism, and that should be tackled by this Government as well.”
There are fears that the suspect will use Turkey as a staging post to head back to his own country, and may potentially disappear. Whilst Turkey has an extradition treaty with Ireland, that can only take place if the Director of Public Prosecutions orders a charge.
If the suspect is using a fake ID, “he could just disappear,” one source told the media.
The suspect, who had sought asylum in Ireland since the middle of 2024, is reported to have resided at an IPAS centre in Killarney, however, he had frequently stayed at the home Ms Carney rented in Muckross Road.
Gardai believe that he managed to board a bus from Killarney to Dublin at around 3:30am, where he headed to Dublin airport and flew to Turkey – with the alarm only raised at lunchtime the following day, long after he had escaped Ireland.
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