The Torso in the Canal Read Online Free PDF

not escape from. The memory of the dismemberment made her sick. She had cut, torn, pulled and wrenched the body apart; removing his limbs and head. She had mutilated his body.
    In truth, she was horrified by what she had done. She felt waves of nervousness, anxiety, hyperactivity and irritability. She couldn’t hide her agitation, no matter how hard she tried. She also looked terrible.
    Charlotte’s mind was also in turmoil, though she managed to remain calm. She too was in the throes of a deep depression, terrified about what to do next. The reality of the situation the sisters found themselves in ignited a sense of paranoia. They now felt sick.
    It is clear that they were in a state of denial. Admitting to themselves that they had killed Noor was hard enough, but admitting to dismemberment was something else. In many ways, strolling through the shopping centre was their means of normalising the situation.
    When they left the Square, they walked to the Sean Walsh Memorial Park in Tallaght. It was here they planned to bury Noor’s head in the ground in the hope it would never be found.
    The mentality shared by the two sisters was a confused one. In truth, they didn’t know what to do or how to handle the situation. They certainly weren’t thinking rationally; for a start they couldn’t decide exactly where to conceal the head. Linda later recalled:
    ‘Charlotte knows the park and we were saying “We will put it here and put it there.” We walked around for ages. We sat down on a rock. We were looking for different places, where the bench was. Charlie started digging holes with the knife. The hole was not very deep. I had the head on me back and I said to Charlie, “Get this off me.” Charlie took it out of the bag and put it in the hole. The head was still in the black bag. Charlie filled the hole. I could not do it.’
    The hole she had dug lay a few feet away from a park bench. In a statement later produced in court, Linda said that their mother, who had accompanied them, ‘took the knives and hammer and flung them into one of the park’s lakes.’
    ‘We then went home. I burned the bag in a fire at home in the sitting room. Me da was in bed.’
    Although they convinced themselves that they had gotten away with the killing, the death continued to haunt them in the hours that followed. Linda feared the body parts would be found in the canal. In fact, she was certain that someone would see something out of the ordinary, and find a body part. Her senses told her it was just a matter of time.
    While Charlotte had the outward appearance of someone with not a care in the world, inside she too was beginning to break down. At one point, just days after the killing, she broke down and confessed to her sister Marie, who thought she was making up stories.
    It was 6.30pm and Marie was just home from her job as an apprentice mechanic. She found Charlotte drunk when she walked into the house. She sat down beside her and comforted her, before Charlotte eventually said, ‘We’re after killing Farah Noor.’
    Marie knew from previous experience that Charlotte was capable of telling wild stories, particularly when she was drunk. Marie kept quiet and just let Charlotte ramble on, thinking nothing more of the story. This time, Charlotte told a different version of the events that had taken place; she said that she had gone to the chipper with her mother, and when they returned, they found Noor trying to rape Linda.
    Charlotte said she had first hit Noor, then Linda had hit him, causing him to fall. Marie would later make a statement which said: ‘She did not describe the items used to hit Farah, nor did I enquire. Charlotte told me that they then cut Farah Noor into two halves and buried him either side of the canal. She did not identify the canal, nor did I ask her. I honestly did not believe her. Charlotte was very upset at this stage and I was shocked to put it mildly, by the story she told me even though I did not believe