Man pleads guilty to manslaughter of Paula Canty in Co Cork
Olivia Kelleher
A 43-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the mother of two, Paula Canty, in Mallow, Co Cork, on January 3rd, 2025.
Joseph Butler had previously been charged with the murder contrary to common law of Canty (31) at the Belfry, Bridewell Lane, Mallow, Co Cork.
The native of Kinsale, Co Cork, died three days before her 32nd birthday.
On Monday, at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork, Prosecution senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan said that a plea of manslaughter was acceptable to the State.
Butler, who is originally from Midleton in Co Cork, only spoke to confirm his plea of guilty to the unlawful killing of Canty.
Defence barrister Ray Boland said that his client has a history of substance abuse. He told the court that Butler was “very remorseful” for his actions and had written a letter of apology to the family of the deceased. The letter will be forwarded to the State.
Boland asked that a probation report be prepared in advance of the sentencing hearing. Judge Siobhan Lankford directed the preparation of a probation report and victim impact statements. The case was adjourned until June to fix a date for its finalisation.
Butler will appear in court via video link on June 3rd. The case will then be further adjourned for a full hearing. He was further remanded in custody pending his next court appearance.
Meanwhile, Canty is survived by her mother Sinead, her children Alyisha and Aoibhe and her five siblings.
She was pronounced dead in an upper storey rented flat in Mallow in January 2025. A postmortem examination was carried out at Cork University Hospital by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster. The investigation was then formally upgraded to a murder probe.
An inquest in July of last year heard that Canty suffered haemorrhage and shock after she sustained a stab wound to the thorax.
Cork Coroner’s Court briefly opened the inquest in to the death of native of Kinsale in the county. Dr Bolster carried out a postmortem on the deceased on the 4th of January, 2025 in the morgue in Cork city.
Meanwhile, Canty is survived by her mother Sinead, her daughters Alyisha and Aoibhe and her five siblings Darragh, Donna, Latoya, David and Rianna.
Mourners at her funeral in St John the Baptist Church in Kinsale, Co Cork on January 11th, 2025 last heard that Paula was creative with a “kind heart” and had a “soft, pleasant nature.”
Fr Robert Young said that no parent should have to suffer the loss of a child.
“To lose a son or daughter is a particular kind of grief. It is not the natural scheme of things that a son or daughter would die before their parent. It is certainly not the natural scheme of things that a parent would have to experience the murder of a son or daughter.”
All those who mourned the deceased were asked to donate to Street Angels, a homeless outreach group in Cork, and to drug and alcohol treatment centre Coolmine.
Her mother, Sinead, also raised thousands of euros for the Street Angels homeless outreach service following an online appeal.
