The Sunday World has learned Mooney (53) – who was convicted last month of killing his wife in Dublin two years ago after gardaí found footage of the incident on a mobile phone – was moved to Mountjoy’s D wing following his conviction.
The wing is the same one used to detain convicted Kinahan gang members and was locked down disturbances last May.
The D wing is also chronically overcrowded with 200 prisoners in an area designed for 100 inmates.
Sources said since being housed on the wing, where access to college courses and workshops has been wiped out because of over-crowding, Mooney has been keeping his head down and hasn’t come to the attention of jail authorities.
Stephen Mooney with wife Anna.
News in 90 Seconds – August 16th
A real estate agent. Mooney had originally pleaded not guilty to the murder of 43-year-old Anna Mooney in the early hours of 15 June 2023.
He was due to go on trial in March this year.
But he changed his plea to guilty after gardaí found video and audio footage of the murder and the aftermath, on a mobile phone Mooney had set up to record his wife, whom he suspected of having an affair.
Gardaí were able to access the footage when an update of the software used to analyse phones allowed the device to be unlocked without a password.
Mooney had stabbed his wife to death in the kitchen/living room of their home in Kilbarrack.
The footage showed him leaving the room at one point and returning with the knife used to kill her. The court heard it had a curved blade, 16cm in length.
Afterwards, Mooney dialled 999. When emergency services arrived he was leaning over his wife’s body.
A knife was still lodged in her chest. He told a paramedic “I’ve killed her”. He said he was “really sorry” and that it had been “going on for six years”.
He claimed his wife had been having an affair and that he “saw something on her phone about sex and everything else and freaked out”.
A short time later he told a garda his wife was having an affair, that it got out of control, that he “tried to save her” and that “everyone’s lives” were “ruined”.
The couple’s two children, then aged around 17 and 11 were asleep upstairs when the murder took place.
A post mortem examination showed Ms Mooney had been stabbed a number of times and her death was due to multiple sharp force injuries.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison on Mooney.
He said the murder was a devastating loss for Ms Mooney’s family and had caused huge damage and trauma. And he expressed his deepest sympathy to the family.