‘SEEING THE CONSEQUENCES MIGHT STOP NEXT MURDERER’ SAYS SLAIN SIOBHAN’S SIS

A SISTER of murder victim Siobhan McLaughlin has called for killers to be publicly paraded outside the court once convicted.

Talking exclusively to The Star, Aisling McLaughlin said she is disturbed by the number of incidents of men killing their partners in recent years, and she believes much tougher deterrents are needed now.

“It’s very easy for these guys to get into a prison van or paddy wagon with a coat over their head and never be seen again,” she said. I know this might sound kind of a bit archaic or a bit extreme but I believe they should be put out in front of the court for everybody to see and shamed and humiliated after they have been convicted.”

“It should happen in the same way that families stand outside court to give a response or a reaction to a court case.”

Aisling’s sister Siobhan (38) was murdered by her husband Brian Kearney at their home in Goatstown, south Dublin, on February 28, 2006. He strangled her with a vacuum cleaner flex and tried to make it look like suicide.

He was given a life sentence in 2008, and is now studying and completing courses from behind bars.

But Aisling feels we as a society need to get a lot tougher on murderers, in order to break the cycle.

She said: “Why should they just sneak off and slither away into a prison and to do whatever it is they want to do with all their courses and their work and first aid and all this kind of stuff?

“For example, Brian Kearney is doing his Leaving Cert in prison. I think they should be made accountable to the public for what they’ve done to a member of society.

Education

“They should stand there outside the court and have people look at them. I really do believe that they should be made accountable visually and publicly.

“If some guy has to be put on stage outside the court and everybody is looking at them, others would think twice about that.”

Aisling was speaking in light of the recent sentencing of killer Daniel Murtagh, who on Monday was sentenced to life for the murder of his ex-partner Nadine Lott at her home in Arklow, Co Wicklow in 2019.