Murder victim’s family seek meeting with Justice Minister

THE brother of a Kilrush woman, who was murdered 17 years ago, is seeking a meeting with Justice Minister Helen McEntee to address a number of issues affecting families who have lost loved ones in similar circumstances.

Ann Walsh from Kilrush, was 23 years and four months old when she was strangled by her former boyfriend, Raymond Donovan from Cooraclare in the grounds of St Senan’s Church, Kilrush on August 24, 2005.

Donovan was convicted of her murder at the Central Criminal Court in Ennis with Justice Paul Carney imposing a mandatory life sentence following a unanimous guilty verdict by a jury.

Ann had been going out with Donovan for three years but had split from him a year previous to the attack.

Mr Donovan was recently transferred from Shelton Abbey Open Centre to Castlerea Prison, which is a closed medium security prison.

It is understood that Mr Donovan was transferred to a closed prison after allegedly contravening prison rules.

In an interview with the Champion, Stephen Walsh admitted he is extremely frustrated with the lack of adequate engagement between the Justice Minister, parole board and Prison Service.

Mr Walsh said he would like a face-to-face meeting with Minister McEntee to discuss minimum sentencing for murder, communication with families of murder victims before a killer is let out on temporary day release and a requirement for family members of a murder victim to outline their views during a parole board hearing before the board makes its decision.

“The justice system is completely wrong. I have emailed the minister for justice and the parole board many times. The governor in the prison will not talk to us.

“I got no response from the minister for justice. You get not a get a straight answer off of the parole board. It is very hard to get information from the parole board.

“There is no one to represent us before a decision is made on parole for Raymond Donovan.

“We have spent about ten years fighting to keep Raymond Donovan in prison. If we didn’t do this, he would be walking the streets today.

“I would like to meet Minister McEntee. I am happy to drive to Dublin to meet her to get the answers we want. If the same thing happened to one of them, the law would be changed.

“If a person is convicted of murder, then a life sentence should mean this person spends the rest of their life in prison.

“If my sister was a member of An Garda Siochána, he would have automatically got 40 years in jail. Whether you are a public servant or a construction worker, we are all human beings.
The same penalty for murdering a public servant should be given to other people.”

He said the only crumb of comfort for the family is any convicted killer will not be allowed to go before the parole board until at least 12 years of their sentence has elapsed following a successful campaign to increase this from seven years.

Recalling the Walsh family was part of this campaign, he said they had to write to the parole board opposing Mr Donovan’s release every two years after he served seven years until the law was recently changed.

He said the fact the Walsh family was previously put through the ordeal of having to write to the parole board after seven years illustrated how poorly families of murder victims were treated by the state.

He said anyone who sets out to kill another person should on conviction be put behind bars for the rest of their lives, which would act as a proper deterrent.

It is believed Raymond Donovan may be going in front of the parole board for a review next September to determine if he is eligible for parole.

If this review goes ahead, Mr Walsh confirmed he would be opposing parole for Mr Donovan on a number of grounds.

He said Minister McEntee and the parole board should watch the TG4 crime documentary Marú Inár Measc, which was broadcast on Wednesday night to get some understanding of how much Ann’s killing has devastated the family.

He recalled it was hard to watch parts of the documentary including a photograph of Ann in the coffin before her funeral.

Stephen has three children and his sister, Mary, has three children, who are part of the next generation that will never get a chance to meet Ann.

Mary’s second oldest daughter is called Ann after her late sister.

“Seventeen years on the pain is still as raw today as it was back then. I was only 16 when Ann was killed. The older you get the more you realise what happened. I wonder what she would have looked like today. We all have our own family now. There is people in our family who will never get a chance to meet her,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual prisoner cases. The Department of Justice hadn’t responded to queries at the time of going to press.