
The incident occurred on February 11, 1995, when Kavanagh, wearing a balaclava, entered the Malone family home in Caragh.
Jerome Kavanagh, convicted for the 1995 murder of five-year-old Ciaran Malone, was released from Shelton Abbey Open Prison in County Wicklow on Monday.
Kavanagh, according to the Irish Independent, had spent more than 30 years in prison following his guilty plea to the murder.
The incident occurred on February 11, 1995, when Kavanagh, wearing a balaclava, entered the Malone family home in Caragh.
During the attack, he fatally cut the throat of five-year-old Ciaran Malone and stabbed the child’s aunt.
Kavanagh later admitted that the attack was part of a failed attempt to sexually assault the child’s mother, Mary Malone.
At his sentencing in December 1995, a letter written by Kavanagh was read aloud in court in which he confessed to the killing.
Judge Paul Carney allowed the reading, stating that the public had a right to hear Kavanagh’s explanation.
At the time, he worked as an apprentice printer at the Leinster Leader.
He purchased the two knives at Clerys in Dublin.
He also bought cable ties.
The attack only ended with the arrival home of Mary Malone's husband David and shortly afterwards, another local.
Kavanagh subsequently fled the scene but was later found, arrested, charged and jailed.