Victim’s brother calls for tougher jail terms

The brother of a woman who was killed on Christmas Day, along with her two daughters, has called on Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to impose tougher prison sentences on murderers.

John Whelan, a member Advocates for Victims of Homicide (AdVic) told the Today with Sean O’Rourke programme on RTÉ Radio 1 that in Ireland a life sentence does not mean life for the perpetrators of murder.

Mr Whelan told host Keelin Shanley how he learned of his 30-year-old sister Sharon’s death and the deliberate fire at her home that claimed the lives of her two daughters Zara, 7, and Nadia, 2, on Christmas Day 2008.

“I got a phone call at about a quarter to nine on Christmas morning from my mum, who was inconsolable on the phone. It took me a long time to actually register what she was saying to me but I just got this thing that ‘they’re gone, they’re gone.’ It took a long time for me to put the pieces together of what she was saying,” he said.

In 2009, Brian Hennessy, of Windgap, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to the murder of Sharon and her daughters at her home at Roscon.

The victims’ bodies were recovered following a fire at their home. However, while postmortem examinations showed that both girls died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation, it was discovered that Sharon was already dead before the fire and that she had been strangled.

DNA evidence linked Hennessy to the scene, and the postman confessed to Sharon’s murder, claiming that he strangled her to prevent his girlfriend from finding out that he had sex with the victim.

He denied that he had raped Sharon, but confessed to setting the house on fire, knowing that Zara and Nadia were asleep in their beds.

At sentencing Mr Justice Barry White imposed two consecutive life sentences and one concurrent life sentence on Hennessy, but he successfully appealed this so that all three sentences are running concurrently.

Mr Whelan said he learned of Hennessy’s successful appeal through a local garda.

“So he got one life sentence. We as a family are still waiting to find out which one he is serving that life sentence for,” he said.

Having been sentenced in 2009, Hennessy will be eligible for parole for the first time next year. “The affect that has on a family is very, very hard to describe. My own mother described it as cruel,” Mr Whelan said.

Mr Whelan said AdVic had a “very positive meeting” with the minister.

“We discussed all our issues, she was very open to what we were suggesting. What we are asking for when it comes to sentencing is that at the moment life does not mean life. What we are asking for is for the Irish Government to adopt the British system of starting tariffs which would allow judges to hand down sentences starting at 15, 20, 25, 30 years and what’s called whole life tariff if necessary,” he said.

“We want an end to concurrent sentencing, we think there’s no need for it. We want consecutive sentencing to be there,” he said.

Mr Whelan said that as the law cannot be changed retrospectively, these changes would have no impact on the cases involving AdVic’s members.