Released murderer Anton Mulder claims fellow wife-killer Joe O’Reilly deserves a longer stint in prison than him — “because he hasn’t admitted his crime”.
Our exclusive pictures show Mulder, 60, walking the streets of the sleepy village of Tinahely, Co Wicklow, where he’s made his home over the past year since his release from prison in 2020 – after just 15 years.
But when confronted by this paper, Mulder spoke at length about his own release — insisting he be given a second chance, while also giving his opinion on another infamous killer who committed almost the same offence.
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Speaking about notorious wife-killer Joe O’Reilly, Mulder, who served five years less than the national average for murder, said his counterpart should stay behind bars.
“He should do more time than me I think. Why? He’s not even admitting to his [crime],” he said.
“How can he have remorse for anything? I admitted my crime and I behaved and lived with the rules.
“If he admits his crime and behaves himself then yes. If you don’t admit your crime you can’t have remorse.”
South African native Mulder, of Malduin, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, strangled his wife Colleen Suzanne to death on the morning of December 17, 2004 – just three months after O’Reilly bludgeoned his wife Rachel to death in Naul, Co Dublin, on October 4.
But Mulder, who admits he is on social welfare and hasn’t found a job since his release in 2020, feels he should now be accepted by society and insisted he’s not a danger to anyone.
“I love Tinahely. The people of Tinahely are very good to me,” he claimed.
“Everybody knows I’ve come from prison. I’m not any trouble, there’s just some things that have happened in my life.
“I’m not a bad person. I help people, I go to the men’s shed and that’s all. I’m no danger to anybody.”
However, during his trial, the court heard how evil Mulder had told a colleague it would be easy to kill his wife in Ireland as he would only get a few years for manslaughter.
In the end he served 15 years for murder – but now claims he can see what he says caused him to carry out that vile act and insists he is sorry he did it.
“There is a lot of help for people out there,” he added.
“It’s for them to realise when you are going to lose it, there’s triggers and there’s things you can see.
“If I look back I can see thousands of things now. But when I was there, I couldn’t see none of it.
“Once I studied psychology in prison, I said why didn’t I see this? There were so many things that were there.”
Mulder, who says he is remorseful and isn’t looking for forgiveness, also spoke about the long history of men killing women – and claimed that there are ways to change that in the future.
“It’s happening. It’s something that’s been coming for hundreds of years,” he said.
“It’s just things that happen. When I studied psychology I discovered that there are ways you can help people from the woman’s side and the man’s side.
“People have to learn when these things crop up and you have problems, to go and seek help, go and seek counselling, don’t try and solve things yourself.
“For our generation, to go and seek help was a sign of weakness.”
But Mulder’s murder trial heard how he not only premeditated killing his wife – but openly bragged that he intended to do so.
He now says he doesn’t expect forgiveness for his crime – and has to live with what he did.
“I was never a danger to anybody except for two or three seconds of my life when I lost my head,” he claimed.
“You can never forgive a crime. You have to learn to live with it, but you can never forgive somebody.
“I could never forgive somebody so how can I expect somebody to forgive me?”
Despite his claim that it was mere “seconds” of anger that got out of control, the findings of Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis stated that while the attack on Mrs Mulder lasted several seconds, it was not instantaneous.
Now on social welfare, Mulder says he hasn’t even looked for a job yet — and expressed fears he will have trouble getting one due to his conviction.
“Work is about something you enjoy doing,” he added.
“I want to go to work and come home at night not feeling like I went to work. I haven’t really looked for work. I’m sure if I start looking for work I’ll still come across all these obstacles.
“I’m on social welfare at the moment and I’ve got family from South Africa sending me money.”
During his 2006 trial, the court heard how Mulder’s marriage with Colleen became particularly strained when she suffered a
miscarriage in July 2004.
Her attitude to her husband changed and they slept in separate rooms.
Colleen left Co Meath to go back to her hometown of Bangor in Co Down in November of that year, but she returned to Dunshaughlin for the Christmas period.
Mulder, the court heard, was fearful that his children would be taken from him — and he’d also became aware that his wife had a sexual relationship with another man, Johan De Waal, a South African who was a friend of the family.
On December 17, 2004 Mulder claimed to gardai that he grabbed Colleen around the neck after she had been verbally abusing, and threatening him.
He claimed that he “lost it” as a result of this provocation, but never intended to kill his wife.
However, Andreas Loubser and Christy Kourtzen, both South Africans who worked with Anton Mulder, told the court that on separate occasions Mulder said to them he was going to kill his wife.
Mr De Waal said in his evidence that Mulder spoke of a plan to max out his credit cards and re-mortgage the house in Bangor, and return to South Africa with the cash as he was tired of his family.
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