Parents of murder victims call for end to early release
John Sweeney, the father of murdered Cork student Nichola Sweeney told Justice Minister Michael McDowell he was not going far enough by saying he wanted murderers to serve at least 12 years before being considered for parole.
Mr Sweeney said life should mean life. “When you are dealing with murder, the enormity of the crime is such that there is no other appropriate sentence only a mandatory life sentence,” he said. “In the scale of crime from one to 10, murder is up there at 1,000.” Nichola, 20, died of multiple stab wounds in an attack by neighbour Peter Whelan at her home in Rochestown, Co Cork, in April 2002, in which her best friend, Sinéad O’Leary, was badly injured.
