THE MOTHER of a murdered Fermoy man expressed anger that the man who killed her son was out on the bail when he committed the murder.
Geraldine McManus paid tribute to gardaí in Cork and Kerry who had investigated her son’s death. But Ms McManus said she blamed the justice system for the fact that John Walsh was at large at the time he murdered her son, despite having been charged with drugs and assault offences.
“We’re very angry, very bitter that John Paul Walsh was out on bail when he did this to John.
“He had already assaulted somebody and he took the life of my child and we’re . . . angry about this. It’s not the fault of the gardaí . . . the justice system in this country is at fault.”
Ms McManus said she found the trial process distressing. But she found Walsh’s claim that he was a friend of her son particularly upsetting as it was a lie, and he had instead simply preyed on her son’s vulnerability following a serious car crash as a boy.
“John Paul Walsh preyed on John McManus and he preyed on his innocence.
“He was a predator and that was upsetting, but he was never John’s friend and I have no illusions on that,” said Ms McManus, flanked by her family outside the court after sentencing.
Earlier in court, John McManus’s youngest sister, Mary (18), fought back tears as she read a victim impact statement on behalf of her parents, Pat and Geraldine, sister Ciara, brother Conor and herself on the pain her brother’s murder has caused them.
“John was a larger-than-life character who lived a very colourful life. He was so high spirited and he lived every day to the full . . . You couldn’t help but like him; he was always full of laughter and fun and had a massive sense of humour. He was very decent and generous.
“John had a very testing life. When he was 13 he was knocked down by a car and almost died . . . yet against the odds, he pulled through. Because of this we cherished him all the more in our lives; we had a second chance.”
Mary McManus told how the family were shocked when they learned her brother had disappeared and their worst fears were realised when they discovered he had met such a gruesome end after his battered body was found dumped in Co Kerry.
“A part of each of us died that night and for the months that followed we were numb . . . You will never know how it feels to see your dad come home after identifying his oldest child and telling the rest of us that he was so badly beaten we couldn’t see him to say goodbye properly,” she said.
“There is not a day goes by when we do not think of John. Our lives have been consumed by his absence.
“We will always have to look at that empty space at the table . . . Now all we have left is the image of a closed coffin, and a lock of hair from our beautiful brother and son.”