‘Unprecedented interest in Wayne’

THE lawyer for Wayne O’Donoghue said he “never saw the likes” of the media interest surrounding the release of his client.

Frank Buttimer said: “I would react by saying the level of interest which was focused on the release of Wayne O’Donoghue was unprecedented.

“And it was certainly something insofar that Wayne was concerned at the time and his family, it caused them enormous concern that events had become... well, the media circus that it had become.”

He told Newstalk radio it was something his client was in great fear of having to face up to at that time.

“To be fair to the media, I had expected that there would be this level of interest in relation to the release. But bearing in mind there was still a relatively close degree of proximity in time between first of all the tragedy itself, then the criminal trial, then the appeal, then the release.

“The problem became that the release of any prisoner, any prisoner, if he or she has served their time, they’re entitled to privacy, and the problem really was how to face up to the anticipated level of interest.”

“Since his release, he has been given quite a lot of latitude and he has been treated very, very fairly if I may say by the absence of press coverage almost which is gratifying, both to him and the family.

“So while there may be an element of horror about the actual events surrounding the release itself, the later events suggest things have eased down, the media have backed off and things have returned to what I would regard as a fairly acceptable level of normality.”