Mother of champion Limerick boxer vows to fight transfer of murderer to UK prison
THE MOTHER of Limerick boxing champion Kevin Sheehy has said she is heartbroken and feels 'let down' at learning that her son’s murderer is to be moved to a prison in the UK to be closer to his own family.
Tracey Tully, said she was informed, at the weekend, that Logan Jackson will be sent back to a prison in Coventry, to conclude the remainder of his life sentence.
“The trial has just been finished five months. We are traumatised,” she told Joe Duffy this Tuesday on Liveline on RTÉ Radio 1.
Jackson, aged 31, of Longford Road, Coventry, England was jailed for life last December after he was found guilty, by unanimous jury verdict of murdering Mr Sheehy (20) at Hyde Road in Limerick city on July 1, 2019. He had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
Speaking on Liveline, Ms Tully said she was informed, on Saturday, of the decision to re-patriate Jackson early next month. She added that she was told it was out of the gardaí’s hands.
“I was told by gardaí at the beginning of the trial that I wouldn’t have to worry about this for 10 years, but the decision has been made without any consultation with us, the victim's family.” she stated.
In her victim impact statement following last year's trial, Tracey spoke of her granddaughter, who was born in August 2019, a month after her father, Kevin was brutally murdered by Mr Jackson.
“She was born into so much grief. She is one of the only things that can put a smile on my face. We were all robbed of so much. We knew what Kevin wanted to do with his life, but we will never know what he could have done,” she stated of her son, who won five Irish boxing titles in five years.
It wasn’t until the trial that she learned about the severity of Kevin’s injuries before death. “I completely lost everything in that moment,” she said, reflecting on the devastating night of Kevin’s death.
Since then, Tracey admitted to living a quiet life, purposely avoiding social media and deciding not to keep a phone.
She finds it difficult to get out of bed most days and avoids meeting her strong group of friends, due to grief.
“Justice for me would have been walking out of that courthouse with my son. To find this out now about the transfer, I feel very let down.
“We have had no say in this, five month's after the man who took my son’s life so brutally was sentenced,” she stated.
With only three weeks to fight the decision, Tracey is hoping to have the decision reversed and appealed directly to the Minister for Justice not to allow the transfer to proceed.
“He committed a crime in Ireland, so he should be serving most of his sentence in Ireland. Kevin was an Irish boy,” she concluded.
In a statement, issued to RTÉ, the Department of Justice expressed its condolences to Mr Sheey's family but said it was "precluded" from commenting on matter any further.