Custodial sentencing: A father’s long battle for justice for his daughter

Donal Kealy’s daughter Catherine was murdered more than 20 years ago. He has fought for her, for her memory, and for justice ever since. Turning 80 next year, he wants ‘life’ to mean life for murder, and rails at how victims, in his experience, are treated by the State. His is a tragic human story echoed in many homes across the country, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

DONAL points to a hatch in the wall connecting two rooms as he remembers a moment from his daughter’s life.

“I’d often be in there in the adjoining room looking through the hatch and she’d be in here jiving around,” he says, a smile curling across his face. “Like any teenager, she loved the music. When she see me, she’d stop.”