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Friday, March 19, 2010
THE mother of murdered Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo cried as she described the breakdown of relations with the founder of a charity set up in memory of her only child.
Brendan McGuinness, who runs a pub in the Swiss city of Basel, announced on Tuesday that he was quitting the organisation amid claims in a Swiss newspaper that money was missing from the charity.
Manuela, 17, was raped and murdered in October 2007, just three days after arriving in Galway for a language course.
Her mother, Arlette, speaking through an interpreter on RTÉ’s Liveline, said Mr McGuinness had organised a concert in his pub last July.
"When the concert was finished Mr McGuinness told us that all the money that came from the concert would go to the Manuela [Riedo] Foundation," she said.
Mr McGuinness confirmed this week that he had not yet handed over the €11,700 he raised from the concert.
He said he would hand the money over when he prepared his six-month accounts today.
Relations between the Riedos and Mr McGuinness deteriorated when the couple came out in support of a Galway concert held last July, organised by a group of local volunteers. It raised €50,000.
Mr McGuinness said he had been attempting to arrange a concert in Dublin when the Galway event was announced.
Arlette, who broke down during her interview with Joe Duffy, said she wanted Mr McGuinness to leave the foundation and to have all the funds raised transferred to its account.
She stressed that the organisation, set up to help and support rape victims and their families across Europe, still exists.
Her husband, Hans-Peter, is president and she is vice-president.
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