A register of abusers ‘could have saved my sister’s life’

THOSE convicted of violence against women should be placed on a register of offenders, which could be accessed by future wives or girlfriends, it has been suggested.

Such a register, held by An Garda Síochána, could have saved the life of 24-year-old mother-oftwo Jennifer Poole, her brother has said.

Killer Gavin Murphy hid his past as a domestic abuser from his victim when they met, by claiming he had been living abroad instead of confessing that he had been imprisoned in Mountjoy for attacking a previous partner and her mother with a knife.

Last week Murphy, 30, of Coultry Drive, Ballymun, Dublin, was given a mandatory life sentence, having pleaded guilty to murdering Jennifer in her apartment in Melville Drive, Finglas, last year by stabbing her seven times.

Her brother Jason has asked Justice Minister Helen McEntee to meet with his family to discuss the creation of a ‘domestic abusers register’ that ‘could have saved my sister’s life’.

Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Bay South, Jim O’Callaghan, told Newstalk that he had spoken to Jason Poole about the register.

He said he had also spoken with Claire Lott, the mother of murder victim, Nadine, who was beaten to death by her former partner Daniel Murtagh at her apartment in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, in 2019.

Mr O’Callaghan said: ‘What became apparent,

‘It wouldn’t be publicly available’

particularly from speaking to Jason Poole, was that the man convicted of murdering his sister Jennifer had previously violently assaulted a previous partner.

He said the idea was modelled on the Sex Offenders’ Register. ‘On conviction of domestic violence, information about the individual convicted would be provided to the gardaí,’ he explained.

‘It wouldn’t be publicly available... but it would be available that the gardaí could make a decision that they were going to disclose it to individuals if they thought it was appropriate in order to protect that individual.’

Noeline Blackwell, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said she welcomed the idea of a register, although she understood the legal protections which would have to surround access to a person’s private history.

‘However, the more urgent necessity is that the guards have access to their own internal register of convictions, and that they can access them quickly and that they are up to date,’ she said.

‘They also need a process which kicks into action immediately that someone queries a partner’s history of domestic abuse. They have to ask why a person would be asking that question, and put in place a strategy for their risk assessment and safety.’