Tougher laws ‘would have saved our sister’

The sister of murdered Sharon Coughlan has told how she believes her sibling would still be alive today if Ireland had tougher laws on foreign criminals entering the country.

Czech man David Brozovsky raped and murdered the 37-year-old mother-of-two near her home in Great Water St, Longford, in 2007, but it has since emerged that he had a string of criminal convictions before he came to Ireland.

The family told of their dismay yesterday at receiving at email from Justice Minister Alan Shatter on Wednesday telling them the repatriation was going ahead despite their pleas to keep him in an Irish jail.

Sharon’s sister, Orla, told TV3’s The Morning Show she believed her sister would never have come into contact with the killer if Ireland had stricter border controls.

“It does anger us. We feel that if our borders had of been policed more strictly our sister Sharon would still be alive today.

“This man wouldn’t have gotten into our country.”

She said her family have been left devastated by the horrific murder of her sister by Brozovsky, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for murder and 15 years for rape.

“We are just heartbroken. You don’t expect it to happen on your doorstep and to happen to your sister.”

Sharon’s three sisters, Orla, Caran and Brenda, had earlier handed in a petition to Leinster House this calling on the Government to block the repatriation.

But Caran Coughlan told of their shock at receiving an email from Mr Shatter saying he was proceeding with sending the killer back to his own country.

“Alan Shatter emailed us on (Wednesday) night and said the repatriation is still going ahead. At this stage we are begging and urging Alan Shatter and pleading with Enda Kenny to intervene and stop this repatriation,” she said.

Caran said they are fighting to keep the murderer behind bars for her sister’s children, Clara, 15, and Dean, 10. “We know the true meaning of a broken heart. It is literally a pain in your heart. The way it happened was so brutal.

“Her children miss her every day. I have her children living with me. They are doing as well as can be expected. Since we got to learn about this repatriation our only concern has to be the children. We have to do what is right for them.”

Caran said she believes the killer will serve a longer sentence in Ireland than in Czech Republic and would be under tougher scrutiny.

“We feel he was sentenced in an Irish jail and that he should serve out his sentence in an Irish jail. When he gets out of jail in Ireland, he will be put on a sex offender’s register and there is no sex offender’s register in the Czech Republic.”

And she said there is no guarantee that he will not re-enter Ireland and offend again as an exclusion order still hasn’t been processed.

“We got informed (this week) that an exclusion order is being considered and processed. We don’t really understand what that means. From what we are aware, he didn’t have a passport when he was arrested so how did he get into Ireland in the first place?”