Latest news with #PeterPringle
Irish Times
17 hours ago
- General
- Irish Times
Who was Sunny Jacobs? A remarkable life from Florida's death row to Connemara
Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs was 76 when she died on Tuesday morning in a house fire in Connemara . Her tragic death made headlines far beyond Galway and Ireland because Jacobs had led a truly remarkable life. It included a death row sentence for the murder of two policemen in Florida in 1976. She spent 17 years in a US jail, five in solitary confinement, before a deal with prosecutors saw her released in 1995. Another person died in the fire in the remote cottage, her carer a young man called Kevin Kelly from Moycullen. READ MORE Her life – before and after that highway shooting – has been chronicled in books, a play and a film as Jacobs became a campaigner against the death penalty. In an extraordinary twist of fate, a coincidence that could barely have been imagined, she ended up married to a man whose experience mirrored hers. [ Death row survivor Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs found 'tranquility' in Connemara before death in house fire Opens in new window ] Peter Pringle had also been handed the death sentence over his part in the murder of two policemen: gardaí John Morley and Henry Byrne during a bank robbery in Co Roscommon in 1980. After serving 15 years in jail, Pringle was acquitted of the killings in 1995 when the Court of Appeal ruled the original verdict was unsafe and unsound. The two former prisoners met in Ireland at an Amnesty event – Jacobs was a tireless campaigner for the rest of her life – and married in 2011 before settling in Connemara. Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy has been in Connemara where Jacobs found peace and sanctuary and where she died. He tells In the News her story. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Death row survivor Sonia ‘Sunny' Jacobs found ‘tranquility' in Connemara before death in house fire
Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs and her husband Peter Pringle lived out their lives in a place of breathtaking beauty and isolation. Each morning when they opened their curtains they had views of the blue-tinged Twelve Pins mountain range , rocky bogland and Lough Glenicmurrin. The 1970s-era bungalow where Ms Jacobs (76) and her caretaker Kevin Kelly (31) died in a house fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning is down a rough boreen. The area is now closed off with Garda tape. It seems scarcely believable that a woman who overcame so much in her life would succumb to the tragedy of a house fire along with a young man who had his whole life ahead of him. READ MORE [ Woman who died in Connemara house fire named as former US death row inmate Sunny Jacobs Opens in new window ] Sonny Jacobs pictured at the Cuirt International Festival of Literature in 2007. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy. Ms Jacobs spent five years on death row in Florida and 16 years in prison for a murder she did not commit. While she was in prison, her parents, who were looking after her two children, were killed in a plane crash. She was released in 1992. Six years later, at a meeting organised by Amnesty International in Galway, she met Peter Pringle. He had also been on death row in Ireland for the murder of gardaí John Morley and Henry Byrne in July 1980. He too was exonerated having spent 14 years in jail. They moved twice in Connemara before settling in Glenicmurrin at the end of a row of about a dozen houses. The nearest town, Costelloe, is 15 minutes drive away. Despite their isolation, they regularly received visitors mostly in connection with the Sunny Centre, which she set up with Mr Pringle to campaign against the death penalty worldwide. Mr Pringle died in December 2023 and Ms Jacobs's beloved dog, Barney, died a short time after that. Postman Michael Leainde got to know the couple better than most. 'People are really shocked and it is only now they are coming to grips with what happened,' he said. 'She was very witty. I'd be talking to her every second day. If I said something and she didn't think it was right, she would say, 'Michael, you were wrong about that'. She was a great woman and we had great chats,' he said. Postman Michael Leainde got to know the couple better than most. Photograph: Ronan McGreevy He thought she and her husband found a happiness in the landscape of Connemara that had denied to them for so long in their lives. 'If you look around you, you have peace and tranquillity. When you get a little bit older in age, you want to have some peace in life. They really appreciated what they had here,' she said. Mr Leainde, who is also a local councillor, spoke to her last Thursday and said she was in great form. She had spoken to her son recently via video call, he recalled. A neighbour, Michael Walsh, said he knew her husband Mr Pringle very well and he would call in occasionally. They were a happy couple who moved to the location in their final years to the house their final location locally having rented an adjacent house for many years. She was a 'nice woman. We all felt sorry for her for all the years she spent in prison', he said. Ruairí McKiernan, a former member of the Council of State, a body that advises the president of Ireland, first met Ms Jacobs 18 years ago and they became good friends. Despite being 76, she worked until the end of her life talking, podcasting and advocating for the Sunny Foundation in the United States, he said in an online tribute. 'She never stopped giving, and, in all of this, she kept gratitude at the heart of her practice. Always grateful for beauty, for animals, for nature, for friendship, for life,' he said.
Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
‘An unspeakable tragedy': Neighbours react as woman killed in Galway house fire named as death row survivor Sunny Jacobs
After spending 17 years in US prison and five years on death row, Ms Jacobs was cleared of murdering two police officers and later met Irishman Peter Pringle, who was also exonerated, for killing two gardaí A woman who died in a house fire in Connemara has been named as Sunny Jacobs, a US citizen who spent years on death row in America after being wrongfully convicted of a double murder. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs (78) spent 17 years, five of which were on death row, in prison over the murder of two police officers in Florida in 1976.
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- General
- The Irish Sun
Woman who died in horror Galway house fire named as former US death row survivor as tributes paid
A FLORIDA death row survivor and a man in his 30s have died after a blaze broke out in a home in Galway today. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs spent 17 years behind bars after she was wrongfully convicted of the murder of two police officers in the Advertisement 2 Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs has died in a house fire in Galway Credit: GoFundMe 2 Sunny and Peter Pringle each served time behind bars Credit: Getty She was married to Peter Pringle who was also sentenced to death for killing two gardai during a bank robbery in The man who died in the blaze is believed to be a carer. Sunny and the man were the only people in the property at the time of the fire. Advertisement READ MORE IN NEWS Three units of the County Galway Fire Service along with crews from Galway city and An Cheathrú Rua tackled the Their bodies were taken to University Hospital Galway for post-mortem examinations. A garda spokesperson said: 'The results of the postmortems, along with the findings of the technical examination, will determine the course of the Garda investigation.' In 1976, Ms Jacobs was travelling in a car to North Carolina with her partner, Jesse Tafero, and two kids, then aged 9 years and 10 months, when they had some car trouble. Advertisement Most read in Irish News Walter Rhodes, known to Sunny, offered to help them. A fatal shooting incident kicked off, where a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a Canadian police officer were killed. Brit facing death penalty in coke smuggling plot all smiles after court rant Rhodes got a life sentence in exchange for testifying against the pair. Sunny and her partner were put on death row. Advertisement In 1990, Mr Tafero was executed and Sunny was exonerated in 1992. In 1998, the New York native met her husband Pringle at an Amnesty International event calling for the death penalty to be abolished. The pair tied the knot in 2012 and set up the Sunny Healing Center which offered a space for healing and respite to dozens of individuals who have faced miscarriages of justice. PETER'S DEATH A group of Sunny's friends set up a fundraiser for her after Peter passed away in January 2023. Advertisement They said: 'Sunny is strong in spirit but she has several health challenges and struggles with mobility. 'Sunny lives in rural Connemara, Ireland, away from many of her friends and immediate family. 'Sunny continues to care for her animals while doing what she can to continue her campaign and healing work with Exonerees.' TRIBUTES Mourners remembered Sunny online as a 'hero' and 'champion for Justice'. Advertisement One mourner said: 'Sitting here numb and sad, Sunny Jacobs has gone to be with her Peter Pringle in the afterlife. "What a sad sad day. Until we meet again, One Love Sunny.' While another added: 'I am sad to share news of the passing of my dear friend, a true shero and a champion for Justice, Sunny Jacobs.' Gardai are appealing for witnesses of the fire to come forward. Advertisement A garda spokesperson said: 'Anyone with information is asked to contact Clifden Garda Station on 095 22500, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Woman who died in Connemara house fire named as former US death row inmate Sunny Jacobs
A woman who spent five years on death row in the United States is one of the victims of the fire in Connemara which killed two people. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs spent 16 years in a Florida prison over the murder of two police officers. She was named locally in Connemara as a victim of the fire, along with a man in his 30s who has not yet been publicly identified. Jacobs was in a car with her partner Jesse Tafero and her two children, aged 9 years and 10 months, when she became caught up in a fatal shooting incident at an Interstate 95 rest stop in 1976. READ MORE Jacobs and Tafero were sentenced to death while a third man, Walter Rhodes, who was in the back seat of the car, later confessed to the murder. Tafero was executed in 1990. Ms Jacobs was eventually acquitted in 1992 and released from jail. On a visit to Ireland in 1998 while she was campaigning at an Amnesty International event for the abolition of the death penalty, she met Irishman Peter Pringle. He had been sentenced to death in Ireland for the murder o f gardas John Morley and Henry Byrne during a bank robbery in Ballaghaderreen in July 1980. His death sentence, along with that of two other men, was commuted to 40 years in jail. Mr Pringle was acquitted of the killing at the Court of Appeal in 1995 after the court ruled the original verdict was unsafe and unsound. The couple married in 2012 and they moved to Connemara. Mr Pringle died in 2023. In 2008, Ms Jacobs published the bestselling book Stolen Time about her period in jail. Tuesday' fire broke out at a cottage near Casla, a village between Inverin and Carraroe, at about 6am. 'At approximately 6:20am, gardaí and fire services were alerted to a house fire at Gleann Mhic Mhuireann,' An Garda Síochána said in a statement. 'The fire was brought under control by Fire Services and the bodies of a woman aged in her 70s and a man in his 30s were recovered from inside the house.' A forensic examination of the cottage, of which the two deceased are believed to have been the only occupants of at the time, is being carried out. The bodies have been transported to the University Hospital Galway mortuary to undergo postmortems and the coroner has been notified. 'The results of the postmortems, along with the findings of the technical examination, will determine the course of the Garda investigation,' the Garda added. Three units of the County Galway Fire Service and fire personnel from Galway city attended the scene. An Garda Síochána is appealing to anyone with information about the incident to contact Clifden Garda station on 095 22500, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
