I wish my Nicola’s killer got the death penalty
Dad recalls beautiful daughter on anniversary of her death
MURDERER Richard Hinds was jailed in 2012
THE dad of a young woman murdered in Japan said he wishes her killer had been given the death penalty.
Nicola Furlong, a student from Wexford, was only 21 when she was strangled by evil Richard Hinds on May 24, 2012.
Tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of her death – but it is the first since Hinds, who was aged 19 in 2012, was freed last November after serving a maximum 10-year sentence.
Nicola’s dad Andrew told the Irish Mirror: “He was tried and sentenced as a minor so he could not be considered for the death penalty in Japan.
“It was his first offence. Nicola’s [murder] led to calls for a law change in Japan.
“If it was in when he was convicted, he could’ve got the death penalty.
“I wanted him to get it. Initially, he was to be tried as an adult, but less than six months later, he was changed to a minor.
“We questioned that. We wanted him tried as an adult.”
Business and Japanese student Nicola was in Japan on an exchange programme from Dublin City University.
She was killed by Hinds, who drugged her, after Nicola and a pal attended a concert by American rapper Nicki Minaj in the Japanese capital.
Andrew revealed he has written an emotionally-charged book that details the horror of Nicola’s death, the murder trial and Hinds’ conviction.
He said: “It is very detailed and we need a publisher. It goes from day one when the gardai came into the house to the day that we got home from the trial.
“I have spoken to some big publishers. I would like to have it published.”
Hinds’ two-week trial heard he and another predator James Blackston took Nicola unconscious to a hotel in a taxi after she collapsed in a bar. Former choir singer Hinds was branded “a lying killer who had shown no remorse” when he was jailed for strangling Nicola.
Judge Masaharu Ashizawa labelled the brutal killing as “vicious and atrocious” and accused him of “tainting” the memory of Nicola who “was not at fault in any way for her death”.
The judge also said the “irrational explanations” Hinds gave for Nicola’s death only added to her family’s pain and demonstrated he had shown “no remorse” for the killing.
Blackston, who was accused of sexually assaulting a friend of Nicola, was sentenced to three years and released in 2015.
When Hinds was freed, Nicola’s mum Angie said: “I just buckled over when I heard the news.
“I spent 10 years wondering how I would feel and now I know.
“It is hard to deal with. He goes ahead and lives his life and we just have to live ours.”
For Nicola’s anniversary tomorrow, Andrew will tend to the Wexford memorial garden called Cuan Aingeal (Angel Harbour) set up in Nicola’s memory.
He said: “Nicola was a beautiful, warm person. I still go the cemetery and clean Cuan Aingeal in her memory.
“The support group is still going and we encourage people to join us to talk.
“With that and the angel [garden], you hope to help others. That was the idea behind it.
“Everyone who attends finds it helpful. Every person there deals with their grief in their own way.”
We wanted [Nicola’s killer] tried as an adult ANDREW FURLONG SPEAKING TO MIRROR