Samantha Dunbar

The 18-year-old gave evidence via video link because she was too scared to face her father. She said she arrived home on 14 September 2006 to find her younger sister crying. She went upstairs and claimed she found her father in bed with his arm around Melissa. She thought they were doing something sexual and left the room but then returned and turned on the light. She said her father jumped off the bed and left the room while she tried to resuscitate her friend. When he returned, she said he put her lifeless body into a sleeping bag and then into the boot of his car.

He told her what happened was "Daddy's little secret" and that he threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Dunbar was found not guilty of threatening to murder Samantha.

The youngest Dunbar child

The evidence of the youngest Dunbar sister, now 16 and in HSE care, caused confusion. In various events of what happened, she blamed herself, Samantha and her father for Melissa's killing. In one account, she claimed Samantha had beaten Melissa on the head with a frying pan in a drug fuelled row. Both young women said their age and fear had clouded their memories.

Shirley Conroy [Ronnie Dunbar's eldest daughter who took her mother's name]

She told the trial that 18 months after Melissa's disappearance, her sister Samantha told her their father had strangled Melissa and that he had taken his two younger daughters with him when he went to dump the body in the River Bonnet. She agreed that her sister had been terrified she would go to prison and had begged her not to tell anyone about her claims. Shirley's boyfriend then contacted gardaí.

Dunbar's ex-girlfriend Angelique Sheridan

Sheridan said she overheard a conversation in her flat between Dunbar and his eldest daughter Shirley, in which a plan to kill Melissa was discussed. Sheridan said that, during the conversation, Dunbar said he wasn't "going to prison" for Melissa. "Shirley said something about going to prison. He said he wouldn't go to prison for her, he'd kill her." Shirley denied any knowledge of this conversation.

Ruth Nooney, Dunbar's fiancée

Nooney is engaged to Dunbar and the couple have a child. Since his conviction she has maintained her belief in her partner's innocence. She was called as a prosecution witness and told his trial that he believed a "new world" was coming where he would be king.