Crime World
Episode 1351: How Mason O'Connell-Conway suffered chronic neglect and violence before his murder
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What led to the tragic death of Mason O'Connell-Conway?
What seemed to have happened on the day that Mason was killed was that she sent a flurry of texts. He came home from work and she had been really trying to get in contact with him. Then he called emergency services. So basically it was a lie about him falling from the bunk bed. There had been abuse and he obviously would have been living in that house.
Gardaí and the court held that he would have been aware of what was going on and he did nothing to stop it. He did nothing to protect his child basically.
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Evil stepmother Tegan McGee was jailed for life this week for the brutal murder of four-year-old Mason O'Connell Conway. The case heard harrowing details of Mason's final days and how his father failed to protect him from McGee's brutal campaign of abuse. Today I'm talking to Eimear Abbott about how Mason was failed and the questions Tusla have to answer.
I'm Niall Donald and this is Crime World, a podcast from crimeworld.com. So when I came in this morning, we had an email in or a message in basically defending John Paul O'Connell. Now, John Paul O'Connell is the father of Mason O'Connell Conway. Now, people will, anybody who's turned on the news or opened a newspaper or website will have seen the absolutely horrific case.
of Mason O'Connell's stepmother being convicted this week, given a life sentence for his murder, Tegan McGee. A truly shocking case. It comes on the back of a number of other kind of shocking cases where
certainly the role of the station in looking after kids, vulnerable kids has been highlighted in particular the murder suicide recently in Clondalkin and some of the other cases involving Daniel Arabose and other kids as well. Teagan Magee was the stepmother of Mason O'Connell or certainly John Paul O'Connell's partner. Why was she convicted this week and tell us the circumstances of the case?
So basically this all happened in 2021 and the emergency services were called to the, so Tegan McGee was living with her partner at the time, John Paul O'Connell and his son, Mason was in their care. He'd been in their care for six months at this time. And essentially when they got there, they, Mason was on the ground unconscious and he had really serious injuries to his body.
And they were told that he had fallen from a bunk bed and hit his head and And so obviously he was brought to hospital. He was on life support for three days. It actually was said in court how they emerged when they pulled back the curtain. Medics in the operating theater gasped at the sight of his injuries.
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Chapter 2: How did Tegan McGee justify her actions during the trial?
So basically, in 2024, he got seven years in jail. So, yeah, as you said, the identity wouldn't have been out there at the time. But he was convicted of four charges. It was child cruelty, endangerment, impeding the apprehension of the person who knew who we knew were believed to have murdered Mason. Obviously, that was now we know Tegan McGee.
So basically, what seemed to have happened on the day that Mason was killed was that she sent a flurry of texts. He came home from work and she had been really trying to get in contact with him. Then he called emergency services. So basically, it was a lie about him falling from the bunk bed. And he...
impeded the prosecution by telling these lies and obviously then there had been abuse and he obviously would have been living in the house, Gardaí and the court held that he would have been aware of what was going on and he did nothing to stop it, he did nothing to protect his child basically.
Yeah so the circumstances were that initially John Paul and Teagan McGee were both at Mason's funeral and the guards it seems from the court case, had very definite suspicions straight away. But obviously these things are hard to prove and it takes a period of time.
So in the aftermath of Mason's death, obviously his mother, Elizabeth Conway, wouldn't have known, wouldn't have been privy to the Garda suspicions or the hospital suspicions necessarily. And in that aftermath then, Teagan McGee and John Paul seemed to have... You know, put on a face really, you know, spoken, John Paul spoke at his son's funeral.
Now the email I got in said he didn't know anything at that stage. But obviously he pled guilty to a number of charges. And one of those charges, as you said, were to do with, I suppose, connected to the build up of it.
Yeah, well, child cruelty is, you know, an endangerment and obviously the impeding the prosecution, that can happen after the fact. But it is a fact and has been said in court that Mason had historic injuries on his body. Exactly. And he was his parent. So that is, he is implicated there.
Exactly. And of course, Tegan McGee had offered a manslaughter plea. So I suppose, you know, at some circumstances like that where somebody loses the plot with a child and maybe on that day does something and possible a manslaughter verdict could be...
reached and something like that but what clearly you know well in my opinion would have gone against her was this historic abuse so you could see in the build up to the murder as you said it was described how he'd suffered these injuries he'd healed from some of them and when he was you know when he was when the medical staff looked at it you could see that this wasn't a sort of one off moment of madness if it could ever be obviously wouldn't
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding Mason's final days?
He's so four years old. They're kind of, they have lots of innocence and lots of energy, but they're also, they don't, they can't in any way mind themselves, really. So just imagine him sitting on a floor so confused.
The people that he thought, he obviously, because as well, you know, the attachment at that age, he obviously loved, probably did love Tegan McGee and his father and didn't understand why this was happening to him. So it's really hard to think about.
Yeah. Any abuse that occurs to a child at that age, it's normal for the child. It's shocking to say, you know, so he probably, this is a normal thing for him because that's what is, that's what's happening. Now, it's not normal, clearly, but a child can't, you know, look at it objectively.
So again, in the aftermath of the case, which I think it's brought home by the fact that people can be named and, you know, it is important because it makes people, I suppose, think about the case in a different way.
Yeah.
But in the aftermath, Mason's mother's family have come out and certainly his grandmother has, the family has spoken about how the grandmother contacted Tusla.
Yeah.
Now, it's easy to kick too slow with all of these cases, but certainly, you know, according to that testimony, they were aware that there was issues.
Yeah, they're saying they're aware. So basically, as we said, John Paul O'Connell and Tegan McGee had the care of Mason for six months before this happened. And there was weeks where basically nobody's seen him. Nobody was allowed to see him. There was, as I said, calls cancelled and all that. So basically,
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Chapter 4: What evidence revealed the extent of abuse Mason suffered?
situations are, you know, it should never be normalized, but very, very tragic.
No, and then obviously you have Daniela Arbose and Cairn Durnan. Cairn Durnan hasn't been found. Daniela Arbose lay in a dumping ground for years before he was found. So, you know, these are obviously different cases, but Again, Tucson has been involved in those cases. And yeah, it's just always the child, isn't it, that suffers.
And I know, you know, maybe it's easy for us to kind of talk here and sit here and give out about it, but it's just hard to know.
It is. There's no easy answers, but it should be given out about nonetheless.
Of course. Yeah. And I suppose maybe we should finish with some of the words from, you know, Mason's mother, Elizabeth Conway, because obviously she was, she gave, you know, a harrowing victim impact statement outside the court. And she, as she said herself, like this happened in 2021. So she's been waiting five years for justice. So.
And she also told how, you know, Mason's, we've gone through the injuries already, but like his head, she said, was 10 times the size of it normally when he was in hospital. And she had to make the decision to turn up as life support after three days. So she described Tiga McGee as pure evil. She said Mason brought so much love and happiness to us all.
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Chapter 5: How did John Paul O'Connell contribute to Mason's neglect?
She obviously completely trusted Tiga. Mason's father and his partner, she said she waited for what felt like days to come out of theatre and then saw him, this is Mason, saw him, her beautiful little child hooked up to all the wires. She said, I had to make the hardest decision a mother could make to turn off his life support.
And she said, you know, my son's life was taken by someone so evil, someone he had loved and trusted. And she said basically that her life ended. She said, I can't imagine the pain he suffered in the weeks leading up to his death. And she kind of said, she'll never be the same again. My perfect little boy, I'll never see his face again. The words that come to mind is betrayal.
I trusted them to look after my beautiful, innocent baby boy.
Yeah. Okay, Eimear. Well, look, we'll come back to this case if there's further developments on it. But, you know, our sympathies are with Mason O'Connell's family.
Absolutely. Thanks, man.
You've been listening to Crime World, a podcast from crimeworld.com. Edited and presented by me, Nicola Talent. Co-presenter, Niall Donald. Producer, Ian Mullaney. Senior writer, producer, Jenny Friel. Assistant producers, Nasa Kumiski and Chloe McPolin. Episode editor, Jason Mullaney. If you want to subscribe for exclusive crime content and podcast specials, go to www.crimeworld.com
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