105 - Vendetta: The murder of Tracy Butler

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2022

⏱️ 70 minutes

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Summary

In July of 1993, 17 year old Tracy Butler was set upon and stabbed to death while walking home in what appeared to be a random act of violence. But as gardai began investigating the case, they began unravelling a complicated web of relationships - ones which had turned sour. ******** (Please note: I misspoke in this episode a few times and said Ballynatty instead of Ballynanty. My Limerick-knowledge is severely lacking in general, and was definitely guilty of being a Dubliner making fun of Limerick. I've done my best here!) ********* With thanks to our sponsors for this episode: Please listen to friends of the show and OGs of the True Crime podcasting world - Generation Why from Wondery! Find them here Sign up for professional online counselling at betterhelp.com/mens and get 10% off your first month! ********* Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! Donate today to get access to bonus and ad-free episodes! Check out the Mens Rea Merch Store! ********* Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ********* Sources: Noel Smith, “Gardai unravel tragic Tracy's last movements” in The Irish Independent (15 July 1993) p. 4 Noel Smith, “Tracy: gardai plea for 'last hour' details” in The Irish Independent (16 July 193) p. 3. Noel Smith, “Knives found in Tracy murder probe” in The Irish Independent (17 July 1993) p. 3. “Four women arrested in hunt for girl's killer” in The Evening Herald (17 July 1993) p. 4. “Four women arrested” in The Sunday World (18 July 1993) p. 19. “Two charged with killing” in The Sunday Tribune (18 July 1993) p. 1. Mary Carolan, “Women knifed girl (17) to death, court told” in The Irish Independent (2 March 1994) p. 6. “Women killed teenager, court hears” in The Irish Times (2 March 1994) p. 4 “Stabbing 'by person in black'” in The Irish Independent (2 March 1994) p. 6. “Badly-cut victim 'fell into house'” in The Irish Independent (2 March 1994) p. 6. Mary Carolan, “Stabbing victim had 49 injuries, jury told” in The Irish Independent (3 March 1994) p. 12 “Girl's lungs pierced in stabbing, court told” in The Irish Times (3 March 1994) p. 7. “Murder trial arguments continue” in The Irish Times (4 March 1994) p. 6. “Legal argument in murder trial” in The Irish Times (8 March 1994) p. 17. “Trial is delayed” in The Irish Independent (8 March 1994) p. 5. “Jury to return” in The Irish Independent (6 March 1994) p. 6. “Garda says woman claimed she planned killing” in The Irish Times (22 March 1994) p. 5. For a full list of sources, please see mensreapod.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the Men's Raya podcast, and this is the story of Tracy Butler.
0:30.0	My Ross, a housing estate on the west side of Limerick City, is sort of notorious. In the
0:49.0	1990s, Limerick City had a population of only about 100,000, and though it was and is
0:56.0	the third largest city in the Republic, the slow-chugging Irish economy of the time meant
1:01.5	that unemployment in the city was high, and any improvements in the national situation
1:07.0	had hardly any impact there anyway. It had lost nearly all of its traditional employment
1:13.1	in the mid-20th century, and it was hard hit in the recession of the 1980s. My Ross was
1:19.2	arguably the place which was left worst off, and as we all know, poverty often travels
1:26.7	hand in hand with an increase in crime rates. It was during this period that Limerick began
1:33.2	to be called Stab City, due to its higher than average levels of knife crime. This was
1:38.9	a term that was used often by Dubliners, gleefully sipping their pints, who never like missing
1:44.9	the opportunity to make fun of the regional cities and the cultis who dare to try and
1:49.5	live their lives outside of the pale. But it was, and is, a term that the people of Limerick
1:55.3	do not want thrust upon them. That said, the crime rates in Limerick and particularly
2:01.5	in Moiraust were high. Guardi were in and out of the Moiraust estate trying to referee
2:07.5	what developed eventually into gang warfare which pitted one family against another. Some
2:13.7	parts of the estate had those tidy, well-kept terraces we like to talk about, and yet others
2:19.2	were scarred with houses that had been burned out or boarded up. Even kids ended up somehow
2:24.7	involved in the feudal warfare that was caused by a struggle to control the drugs trade
2:29.4	in the city. Dr. Neve Hurigan, a sociologist from Limerick, even wrote a book about the
2:35.6	city and what she saw as the reasons behind the crimes committed there. She pointed partly
2:41.4	to a culture which required a level of toughness, saying it was so prevalent that parents
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