Suicide robbed us of justice, says family

THE mother of a murdered Irishman yesterday said the family had been robbed of justice after the accused killed himself at a French hospital.

Early yesterday morning, ex-soldier Pierre Chanal bled himself to death using a minimum pain commando technique he was taught in the army. He used a tiny blade from a disposable razor to slice open the arteries of both thighs. Before doing so he applied two makeshift tourniquets to reduce his suffering to a minimum.

Chanal concealed the suicide by covering his legs with a bed blanket despite being watched by officers through a glass screen.

His death came on the second day of his trial for the murder of 20-year-old Kildare man Trevor O'Keeffe, who was strangled in 1987. Chanal was also accused of killing two French army conscripts.

Mr O'Keeffe's mother Eroline, who has campaigned for 13 years to put her son's killer behind bars, said yesterday: "I am shocked. Someone gave him the razor blades and I want to know who did that. The police and the people in the hospital didn't take care of him.

"Justice has failed us again. Now we will never know for sure who killed him." Mr O'Keeffe's sister, Judy, said: "We've been robbed. There is no justice. There has been a conspiracy by someone somewhere to hide the truth."

Three officers were watching the former soldier through a glass screen separating them from Chanal's room at Reims hospital when he killed himself.

He was checked by guards every quarter of an hour, but police say he managed to tourniquet both his legs under bedclothes and slash his left femoral artery.

Police believe an accomplice smuggled two blades into his hospital room hidden behind the brand patch on a pair of trousers Chanal had requested.