Family ‘ecstatic’ at life sentence for Cork murderer

“WE will never find it in our hearts to forgive what you did — the only thing we are sure is that Lee is in a better place than you.”

That was the message Karen Roberts had for murderer Timmy O’Driscoll, as she read her victim impact statement.

Karen Roberts is the mother of Lee McCarthy and yesterday, O’Driscoll was sentenced to life in prison for murdering him.

“Listening to Dr Margaret Bolster giving her evidence (of the 11 stab wounds to the victim’s body) we felt so angry we wanted to scream, ‘Why? Why? Why?’,” said Ms Roberts.

Afterwards, she and her son Daniel said they and Denise — Lee’s sister who could not be present — were “absolutely ecstatic” about the result.

She explained why she could never forgive the man who murdered her son.

“He took my first son away from me. He (Lee) was so special to us, the most loving boy,” she said.

The family feels Lee is looking at them from heaven.

Ms Roberts continued: “(To see Lee) on a slab in the morgue like a piece of meat all cut and bruised, the pain of this is indescribable but it is nothing in comparison to the pain Lee must have suffered.

“Lee wasn’t the only one who died. Part of us all died that day and our family will never be the same again. Every day is a blur and a struggle since.”