SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lord Scott said: 

“You have been found guilty of the murder of Lucrezia Donaghy on 15 November 2023, a little over 18 months ago.  On the evidence, the jury decided that it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt that you murdered an unarmed and defenceless woman in her own home by repeatedly striking her on the head and body with a claw-hammer or similar implement. 

Lucrezia Donaghy died as a result of blunt force head injuries. There were seven individual injury sites on her head and neck, some of which represent multiple impacts and, therefore, the exact number of impacts was not able to be determined, however it was likely to be in double figures. The damage sustained to her scalp, skull and brain was significant enough to account for death.

There were fractures to the index and ring fingers of her right hand that were likely to have been sustained by an impacting object such as a hammer, whilst her fingers were against a hard surface such as a wall or desk, or the skull, as an attempt to deflect blows to the head.

Whatever implement you used, whether a claw-hammer or something similar, the murder weapon was never found, undoubtedly disposed of by you in calm and calculated efforts to conceal your crime and dispose of any evidence in its immediate aftermath.

The attack was exceptionally savage, frenzied, and, as your own Senior Counsel rightly said, brutal.

Despite a compelling circumstantial case against you, you gave evidence and denied that you were responsible. The reasons for this brutal murder remain unknown but appear almost certainly to have been related to money. In any event, there was no evidence at all of any provocation.

Owen Grant, you murdered Lucrezia Donaghy for money. On the evidence, you were struggling to pay your rent at the time. On your own evidence, you owed Lucrezia Donaghy money for drugs. Almost immediately after her death, you embarked, once again calmly, on a spending spree involving attending to your own needs and drug habit. You went from having only £12.36 in the bank on 15 November 2023 to frittering away hundreds of pounds on cocaine in a matter of 3 or 4 days. Frittering away hundreds of pounds of the murdered Lucrezia Donaghy’s money entirely on your own selfish purposes. You started to do so before her body had even been discovered, within no more than 2 hours of her death.

There is a moving Victim Impact Statement in this case, prepared just a few weeks ago by Lucrezia Donaghy’s mother, Amanda Gow. She is clearly struggling to come to terms with the loss of her only daughter. She says that her heart is broken as she has lost a part of herself. She mourns for her daughter and the life Keshia would have had. Her mind returns constantly to Keshia’s final minutes, wondering if she was in pain. In the most devastating manner, you deprived Amanda Gow of the chance to say goodbye to Keshia.

Amanda Gow ends by saying that “life without Keshia will never be the same”.

It is obvious that no sentence I can impose will be enough to help Lucrezia Donaghy’s family and friends with their traumatic loss.

Owen Grant, you have numerous previous convictions, including abusive, harassing, threatening and violent behaviour. You have served several sentences of detention and imprisonment from the age of 15.

You have 2 convictions for assault occasioning bodily harm when you were 17 which resulted in short sentences of detention and one from when you were 34 for which you were sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.

You were sentenced to 3 years detention for attempted robbery and having a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence in 2000 when you were 18. In 2003, at the age of 21, you were sentenced to 8 years detention for arson endangering life. In 2019, at the age of 37, you were sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for affray with a concurrent sentence of 4 months for battery.

These are the most significant convictions in an extensive schedule of previous offending which extends for 24 years from the age of 15 to 39. You are now 43 years old. It might be thought that, when you gave evidence, you attempted to convey an entirely different impression of your character and how you spent your time before moving to Elgin. The truth of who you are is now more fully known.

Your history of previous violent and dangerous behaviour represents a significant aggravation to the murder.

Understandably, Mr Keegan was simply unable to find anything to say on your behalf today in view of the jury’s verdict.

The sentence for murder is prescribed by law and is a life sentence.  I require, however, to specify a punishment part which is the period you must serve before you can be considered for parole. Having regard to the exceptionally brutal nature of this murder and your extensive schedule of directly analogous offending, I have decided that the appropriate punishment part is 24 years.

You should understand that this is not a sentence of 24 years imprisonment.  It is a life sentence.  24 years represents the minimum time you will have to serve before you can even be considered for parole.  Whether you are released then or ever will be a matter for the Parole Board to determine after that 24 year period has elapsed, based on the risk you are assessed to pose at that time.

The sentence will date from 1 December 2023."