‘Our sitting room is a shrine to our son’

THE parents of the 18-year-old Limerick victim at the centre of the collapsed murder trial yesterday spoke for the first time of how their lives were shattered when their son was stabbed to death on August 28, 2001.

Anthony and Geraldine Leamy were in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday for the trial of Liam Keane, who was accused of murdering their son. The case collapsed after six prosecution witnesses denied making statements identifying the accused as the killer of Eric Leamy.

The Leamys did not want to talk of the case, but of their son who has been forgotten by so many.

“Our sitting room is a shrine to our son Eric. We have pictures of him from a baby up to his confirmation and of him with his soccer teams. We love him so much, we can’t let him go,” said his grief-stricken mother.

“Our daily routine is still the same. My husband goes to work very early, so I get up, because I am unable to rest. I meet him after work, we go to the cemetery, where we spend two to three hours every day,” said Geraldine, a native of Navan, Co Meath.

“We feel closer to our son there. Even now two years on, we find it very difficult to even go into his room. It is still laid out the same way that it was on that night. Little did we know that was the last time we would see Eric alive,” she added.

Sadly for the Leamys, they have two graves to visit at Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery. Their other son, Jason, was just nine months old when he died from a heart defect on August 9, 1985. John Paul, their eldest son, who is now 24, was given no chance of survival when he was born weighing just 1lb in the Regional Maternity Hospital.

“We did not even name him, the nurse did because they did not think he would make it.They named him after John Paul, as it was around the time of the visit of the Pope to Limerick,” explained Anthony.

“Our only comfort now is John Paul, our son. He has two children, Nathan and Erica, who we cherish and love very much, and who keep us going all the time,” Geraldine in an interview in this weekend’s edition of the Limerick Leader newspaper.

The family still take great pride in all the medals and trophies Eric won. He played for Star Rovers and his favourite team was Manchester United. He played soccer for Vereker Clements and rugby for St Mary’s and was also a useful boxer.

Eric never missed a day’s work and was highly thought of by management at Tesco’s, said his mother.

“He was a very good, kind and loving son. He loved his family very much,” said Mrs Leamy. Eric did not live to see the birth of his niece, Erica, who is called after him.