13 – The medical student & the cruel murder of Hazel Mullen

Shan Mohangi arrived in Dublin in 1962 from South Africa. He was 21 years old and had left his home country due to the limited opportunities afforded by the apartheid regime to people of colour in his country at the time. Like many who travelled to Ireland from the African continent, he enrolled in medical school. He took up residence in 95 Harcourt Street and also worked in the restaurant housed in its basement, The Green Tureen. The next year, he met 15 year old Hazel Mullen and the two started going out together. The relationship was serious to Shan, but perhaps less so to Hazel. On the 12th of August 1963, Hazel was to have lunch with Shan in his flat, but he said she never turned up. Smoke was later seen billowing from the restaurant downstairs. After searching all weekend, Shan Mohangi finally told the awful truth. Hazel was dead, and he had tried to burn her up in the ovens of the restaurant. But would 1960’s Ireland provide a man of colour a fair trial for the murder of a teenaged girl? Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com.  Podcast Promos: Married to Murder Podcast, True Crime Fan Club Podcast, and brand new podcast Murder on the Mind! Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  Sources: Irish Times, “Mother who forgave Shan Mohangi dies in Dublin” https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mother-who-forgave-shan-mohangi-dies-in-dublin-1.52348 15 March 1997 Bill Corcoran “ Shan Mohangi’s Dublin past comes back to haunt him”, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/shan-mohangi-s-dublin-past-comes-back-to-haunt-him-1.729751 25 march 2009 Frank White, “South African Politician and the brutal killing of Hazel Mullen in Dublin”, https://carlow-nationalist.ie/2015/03/20/the-south-african-politician-and-the-brutal-killing-of-hazel-mullen-in-dublin/ 18 March 2015 Kevin Higgins, Shan Mohangi: 95 Harcourt Street (Dublin: Equity Press, 2012) Purchase here