Family ‘over the moon’ at sentence for killer

A Dublin man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing 16-year-old Melanie McCarthy McNamara, who was shot while sitting in a car in Dublin last year.

Keith Hall, aged 24, of Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms McCarthy McNamara in Tallaght on Feb 8, 2012.

Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, told the Central Criminal Court that the plea was acceptable to the DPP.

Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down a 20-year jail term — refusing a request by defence counsel to suspend any part of the sentence — and backdated it to Feb 21, 2012.

There was loud cheering by members of the deceased’s family who stood up after the sentence was handed down.

The court heard that father-of-one Hall was a self-confessed heroin addict with 111 previous convictions dating to when he was 14 years old including theft, burglary, drugs and road traffic offences.

In a victim impact statement read to the court on a behalf of the family, Ms McCarthy McNamara’s godmother, Jennifer Roche, said she loved life but never had a chance to live it.

“If the person in front of us has a heart he will tell us why he took our princess away from us,” she said.

Speaking outside court she said she was pleased with the sentence handed down to Hall for the manslaughter of her goddaughter.

“It’s the best news I’ve got in my whole entire life. I’m delighted that Judge Carney found it in his comfort to give him 20 years. I’m going to celebrate for the week,” said Ms Roche.

“If he got life he’d only do 15 whereas now we know he’s doing longer.

“Melanie was perfect to us in every way. She would never say no to nobody.

“I became Melanie’s godmother at the age of 12 and she made me the proudest teenager ever,” she added.

She spoke of how she felt “shattered” after hearing the news that her goddaughter had been killed.

“It was like my world shattered, I’ll never get over it,” said Ms Roche.

“Melanie’s parents are heartbroken, they’re ruined, they’ll never be right.”

The deceased girl’s grandmother Frances McNamara said she was “over the moon” after Hall was jailed for 20 years.

“I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him, that he was sitting right next to me and that he took our child’s life away from us — a beautiful little girl,” said Ms McNamara.

“Eighteen months I’m sitting at that child’s grave because I pray to the almighty God that he’ll take me with her.

“Nothing will ever bring her back… but I felt we got justice for her today and I prayed so hard that she would make us get it and she did.”

Det Supt Brian Sutton told Mr Grehan that Ms McCarthy McNamara was sitting in a Nissan Primera car with her boyfriend and his friend in Brookview Way at around 10.32pm on Feb 7.

A black Santa Fe 4x4 pulled up and a sawn-off shotgun was discharged into the rear passenger seat of the Primera, the court heard.

Ms McCarthy was shot in the head and was driven in the car to Tallaght Hospital but she died of her injuries at 1.15am the next morning.

The court heard that the Santa Fe had been stolen in Rathgar and had licences plates taken from the same type of vehicle.

The shotgun had been stolen a year earlier in Kildare but its owner said it had not been sawn-off when it was taken.

The black 4x4 was later found at a bus terminus in City West.

Hall told gardaí that Ms McCarthy McNamara’a boyfriend and another man were the intended victims of the attack. He said his role was to throw a rock at the window of the house to lure the occupants out of it.