Family angry as sentence cut for triple murderer

THE family of a woman murdered along with her two children by a vicious rapist has expressed horror at the Court of Appeal’s decision to reduce the time in jail the killer will serve for his crimes.

John Whelan, brother of Sharon Whelan, 30, who was raped and strangled by Brian Hennessy at her home in Windgap, Co Kilkenny, early on Christmas Day, 2008, said he could not believe the decision.

Hennessy, aged 24, a postman and neighbour of Sharon Whelan, was convicted in 2009 of murdering the single mother and her two children, Zarah, 7, and Nadia, 2.

He raped and strangled Sharon in her home as her two little daughters slept, waiting for Santa Claus.

The two girls suffocated as a suspicious fire engulfed the farmhouse where they were living. Initially the incident was treated as a tragic fire accident but Hennessy was later convicted of murdering the whole family.

Hennessy will serve just one life sentence. He had been handed three life sentences – one for murdering Sharon Whelan and one for each of the children, to run concurrently after the first life sentence was served.

Last Friday, Hennessey succeeded in his uncontested application to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have all three life sentences run concurrently. That means he could end up serving only 12 years.

Sharon’s father Christy said he could not understand why the killer won his appeal.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Liveline programme, John Whelan said: “As far as we’re concerned it should be a life sentence for every life taken. Not only did he rape and strangle my sister – he waited and thought clinically of his next move. He knew her two kids were asleep in their beds but he set fire to the house.”

Mr Whelan said his family had been badly let down by the State. “We had no contact from the DPP – there was nobody in touch with me. We were told by the guards that this appeal was just a formality, just a routine and that nothing would change.”

Mr Whelan said: “He (Hennessy) was sentenced in November of last year to three life sentences, two of them to run consecutively. That was very rare. We were delighted that this was the case. We knew there would be an appeal. When we found out last week that he was successful in the appeal and that it was uncontested, we were shocked and angry. We only discovered the news last Friday.”

Mr Whelan said his family found it hard to understand how a judge of Barry White’s stature could decide that Hennessy merited such a sentence but that Irish law does not allow that.

“We feel the law needs to be looked at,” he said.