Ten years ends with 5-second walk to freedom

WITH a clank of the big blue door, he was out.

Larry Murphy strode purposefully from incarceration and into the back seat of a taxi, into a world where the impact of his crime still echoes.

He looked simultaneously younger and older than his 45 years, a jowly face with its distinctive dimpled chin, atop a boxer’s wiry frame.

He walked out of Arbour Hill prison in Dublin city centre at 10.15am. He wore sunglasses which seemed too small for his face, a baseball cap and a black New York Yankees hoody.

The scene which faced him as he walked back into society will no doubt be replayed endlessly in his mind, just as his updated image will feature again and again on TV screens and newspaper front pages.

“Rapist” and “scumbag” were some of the terms shouted at him by the small knot of onlookers gathered outside the gates and behind the specially erected metal barriers.

“Leave the women be” was another, but the bulk of those rushing towards the dark Toyota Avensis which spirited him away were media: reporters, photographers and cameramen.

The car took off down the street towards Infirmary Road, to be pursued by at least two motorcyclists employed by newspapers.

The Garda helicopter circled in the air overhead, further evidence that Murphy is a prisoner who will not be allowed to vanish into obscurity; at least not if he stays in this country.

It is understood that the Prison Service did not organise the taxi pick-up and that Murphy had to tell the driver where he wanted to go.

It was a precision operation, and the walk from prison door to vehicle no longer than five seconds.

That contrasted with the 10-and-a-half years he spent behind bars for the horrific repeated rape and attempted murder of a Carlow businesswoman in early 2000.

For many people, more than a decade behind bars isn’t nearly long enough.

The media had been camped outside the front gates of the prison for days, but others were also waiting. Some men, including one in a Robbie Keane T-shirt, said they were from the Facebook campaign calling for Larry Murphy to be kept in prison. Another man was overheard saying how he would try and throw a punch.

Nothing of the sort happened, as up to nine gardaí patrolled the front of the prison. Such was the ardour shown by some of those gathered, when a prison van pulled out of the jail after 9am some shouted “rapist” at it, even though it clearly was not carrying Murphy.

Who knows where he’ll go? Instead of pondering that, we should spare a thought for his victim, who is reliving the trauma of that night back in February more than 10 years ago. Many others affected by sexual violence are also likely to be seeking solace today as a result of the tensions and anxieties awakened by Murphy’s release.

He may be able to catch a taxi or a boat or even a plane, but the hurt and worry he has caused is anchored deep in the soil.