Forty years of secrets: 'Kerry babies' couple deny DNA proves they are parents of murdered child

Catherine Fegan reports from Kerry on a community still searching for answers

‘The guards at the time thought it would become an unmarked grave’: Baby John’s headstone in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry. Photo: Eamonn Farrell

Catherine Fegan

The baby had been alive for up to five days when someone killed him. He was found naked, shoved between rocks with his tiny neck broken. There were 28 separate knife wounds on his body, most of them shallow, hesitation wounds, in which the knife was pulled back at the last second. Most were to the neck. The fatal wounds, inflicted when the knife was plunged four times into his heart, put an end to a tragically short life.

“Frenzied” was the word used to describe the murder of the baby boy found on White Strand beach in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, 40 years ago. An unspeakable horror, meted out with violent intent. To this day, it is not known who did it.