Furlong lives ‘on hold’ since murder
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme last night, Nicola’s mother Angie said “We’re just not living. I really feel we’re not living,” when asked how their lives had been since the death in March of the 21-year-old Wexford woman.
When asked if she felt the trial next week of the man charged with her daughter’s murder would bring closure, Ms Furling said: “I don’t believe I know what closure is.”
She said she felt the grieving would only start when they return from Japan after the trial. “It’s not getting any easier,” she said. “Every day, you carry the pain.”
Ms Furling described her daughter as “vibrant, happy-go-lucky, very funny, very witty”. Nicola’s sister Andrea said she had “lived for the weekend”. Ms Furlong, her husband Andrew and daughter Andrea will all travel to Japan for the trial of American musician Richard Hinds, who has admitted strangling Nicola at the Keio Plaza Hotel.
Another Irish woman, who was with Nicola on the night she was killed, has already told a Tokyo court about her alleged sexual assault and the rape and the murder of her friend.
Both Irishwomen were living in Japan as part of a study abroad exchange.
Another American, James Blackston, 23, is being charged with “quasi-forcible indecency” after allegedly assaulting Nicola’s friend in a taxi on their way to the hotel.
The women had been socialising earlier in the night with Mr Hinds and Mr Blackston. It is believed they were drugged at the bar and bundled into a taxi. CCTV footage from the Keio Plaza hotel shows the suspects helping the women through the lobby and into their rooms.
Tokyo police have produced surveillance footage which shows Mr Blackston groping the victim in the back of a taxi on the way to the hotel.
