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On 29 August 2016, devastating news hit the headlines that an entire family was found dead in a rural community. For Jacqueline Connolly, this was a deeply personal and life-shattering tragedy, as she discovered her sister Clodagh, along with her nephews Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by their husband and father Alan Hawe.
Here, Jacqueline discloses the circumstances leading up to these tragic events, including Hawe’s manipulation and coercive control of her unsuspecting sister.
Her gripping account tells of her family’s painful struggle to expose critical failures in the initial garda investigation, as they uncovered the terrible darkness behind Hawe’s ‘pillar-of-the-community’ facade.
Jacqueline also reveals many of the shocking, unpublished findings of the recent Garda Serious Crime Review, details that challenge our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, while laying bare a mass murder – Ireland’s largest murder-suicide – that was cold-bloodedly planned for a year in advance.
Deadly Silence is both the story of a sister’s determination to find truth and justice, and an inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss.
Jacqueline Connolly was born in rural Ireland and raised as one of three children. She works as a Senior HR Professional. She holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Management and, inspired by her own experiences, has conducted valuable research into vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout for Irish healthcare workers.
She is an advocate for counselling, healing and refusing to let catastrophe and adversity define us as people. As a result of her devastating loss, she is also passionate about raising awareness of domestic violence and the insidious nature of coercive control and other forms of domestic abuse.
She lives with her son in Cavan.
Kathryn Rogers worked as a journalist and columnist for national newspapers for more than two decades. As a ghost-writer and co-author, she has written memoirs, autobiographies, fiction and self-help books, published in Ireland and the UK.