Ireland stunned by knife murders of Lisa Cash and 8-year-old twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley

Ireland has been rocked by the stabbing deaths of a teenage girl and her 18-year-old twin siblings – allegedly carried out by her adult brother, who threw the two younger victims out of a window.

Homicide is rare in Ireland and the brutality of the Dublin triple homicide and the ages of the victims caught the attention of senior government officials. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this “shocked the whole nation and made it very, very sad”.

Police have charged Andy Cash, 24, with triple murder. When he appeared in court late Monday, he responded to each charge with “no comment.” Authorities have not revealed a motive, but Cash had reportedly threatened the family in the past.

Witnesses told local reporters that a 14-year-old boy jumped out of a window to escape the frantic attack and sounded the alarm about the carnage inside the house.

Lisa Cash, 18, and siblings Christy and Chelsea Cawley were all stabbed multiple times; Cash was found at the bottom of a flight of stairs and the twins were thrown from one of the smashed windows, Irishmen Independently reported.

A baby inside was not hurt, and the children’s mother, Margaret “Twink” Cash McDonagh, appeared not to be home at the time.

Corresponding The sun, McDonagh sobbed openly at a church prayer service for her children on Tuesday night. The siblings will be buried together after a funeral on Friday.

Ireland’s top police officer said officers who responded to the scene – where they engaged in an altercation with Cash before storming the house and arresting him – were traumatized by the violence.

“I spoke to some of the guards who initially responded and it must be said that it is just one of the worst incidents I have heard of on my duty,” Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said.

“We have set up appropriate support for them but we would also acknowledge the trauma that has been inflicted on the local community and that cannot be underestimated either. We are very much there to support the community and provide security.”