90 years over attack on Irish student

A man has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for attacking an Irish student and her friend with a baseball bat in Chicago.

Heriberto Viramontes could have been sentenced to 120 years.

Natasha McShane, from Silverbridge in Co Armagh, was out with her friend Stacey Jurich when she was attacked.

Ahead of the sentencing, Natasha’s mother, Sheila, took the stand to deliver a victim impact statement, described the continuing pain, anguish, and emotional turmoil the once highly gifted student and her family are going through.

All because of the “brutal display of humanity” that night in 2010 when a random act changed lives forever.

“If it was not [Natasha] then it would have been somebody else. That’s the sad part,” said Mrs McShane.

“We want justice whatever the outcome ... Natasha will have a life sentence of her own to serve, a life sentence of pain and misery and unfulfilment.”

The attack happened early on April 23, 2010, as the young women returned home from a night out in the Bucktown neighbourhood on Chicago’s northside. Ms McShane, a UCD graduate on an education exchange programme, was celebrating after securing an internship allowing her to remain in a city she loved.

As they walked to Ms Jurich’s apartment, passing beneath an underpass, Viramontes came from behind, striking each once across the back of the head, then stealing their purses.

The trial last October heard Ms McShane fell hard on the ground, unconscious. Ms Jurich remained conscious as police and other emergency services arrived, then blacked out.

Viramontes had been on the prowl for victims, telling his driver, co-accused, later key prosecution witness Marcy Cruz: “Look at all those rich white bitches.”

Both were arrested a week after the attack.

Cruz pleaded guilty to two charges of attempted murder and received a 22-year sentence.

Viramontes was found guilty on a series of charges, including two of attempted murder. He faced a maximum of 120 years in jail.