‘The attack on Noelle Dunmore was sexually motivated, but the motivational needs of her assailant had built up over a period of time. The severity of the attack, including the level of violent force used, was in itself a reflection of the need, anger and compulsion of her attacker. Many of the characteristics of the particular crime scene – the violence, the choice of a public park as the location for the attack and the risks her assailant had been prepared to take both in his choice of location and in leaving his victim at the scene – helped me to form a number of conclusions about him.
‘In cases of angry, sexual and violent assaults, the psychological condition of an attacker is frequently at the point where they have the ability to depersonalise their victim, seeing him or her solely as a means of fulfilling their own needs and fantasy, often without any of the guilt. Noelle’s attacker left her for dead. Thankfully, she survived, but as she had been blindfolded, she could not provide any description of the offender. However, certain aspects of his behaviour, including his incorrect assumption that he had killed his victim, indicated someone who was not just impetuous, but someone who did not have the maturity or intelligence to take his intentions to their conclusion. Even without making the mistake of thinking his victim was dead, he knew Noelle would be found. This told me that his needs and heightened desires were such that fulfilling them was far more important to him than the risk of being caught.’
There was a perfect silence among her audience as Kate delineated the key points of the case. It was almost like they were all holding their breaths, waiting for the revelation that was coming.
‘I was working on the case with Detective Inspector O’Connor. As most of you no doubt know, profilers are not welcome in every police station’ – there was a ripple of muted laughter at this, and Kate knew she must have a garda or two in the audience – ‘but O’Connor and his team were willing to bring me in on this case. It paid off. I was able to tell them that the attacker was immature, probably a young male between eighteen and twenty-five, and that he was someone whose anger had built up over time, possibly as a result of seeking relationships, but because of inadequate social or communication skills, had failed. This profile helped narrow the list of suspects. The investigation team had plenty of forensics from the crime scene, but had been unable to find a match against known offenders, or anyone else who would have been considered high risk. As I had told them the possible age of the perpetrator and the extremities of psychosis he displayed, further questioning within the local community very quickly led to the arrest of nineteen-year-old Jonathan Kinsella. He had been interviewed by police during their house-to-house enquiries, but his shy and backward behaviour, living at home with his parents, with no previous record, meant he had been overlooked. Kinsella was subsequently convicted of the assault and attempted murder of Noelle Dunmore and sentenced to fifteen years.’
Kate smiled at her audience. ‘I’m almost ready to finish up. I hope that you found today’s discussion helpful in eradicating some of the scepticism around criminal profiling, and the assistance it can bring to bear on criminal cases. It’s very easy to be sidetracked by assumptions and presumptions – the aim of profiling is to work with the available details, however small those might be. It is a far more pragmatic science than its detractors give it credit for and, of course, it’s a fascinating area of criminal work. So, to conclude, let us put the base elements of good profiling in a nutshell, if we can.’
Kate clicked up her final slide of the afternoon, which covered methods of operation and key signatures left at a crime scene.
‘The one thing we should always keep in mind when examining any case is that despite obvious indicators of a particular form of operation, or signature, perpetrators very often do similar things for very different reasons. So along with finding the signals, we must also be mindful not to be led in the wrong direction.’
Cronly Lodge
HIS FLIGHT FROM FLORENCE LANDED BACK IN DUBLIN airport at 4.15 p.m., so it was late evening by the time he got back to Cronly Lodge. Instead of going up directly to see the old witch, he chose to walk the beach instead. The spring and summer crowds had not yet begun to arrive for their annual land grab of the sunny southeast but, at this hour, either way, the strand was deserted.
He walked slowly on the sand, near the water’s edge, not wanting to rush his next move. Mrs Flood, their housekeeper, had been given the thankless task of minding his mother while he was away. She had left moments earlier, when he had called to confirm he was near at hand. Everything was at long last firmly crystallised in his mind. He knew what he needed to do. Once the bishop had filled in the missing pieces, all other plans had changed. It was strange how that one part of the jigsaw had escaped him for so long. The truth was, he had not thought even his vile mother could sink so low. The only reason he was now delaying the inevitable was his desire to hear it all from the bitch herself.