The daughter of Bobby Ryan says the last four months have been torture as they awaited the outcome of Patrick Quirke’s appeal.
A seven judge panel at the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the Tipperary farmer’s application for a retrial on Friday meaning Quirke will continue to serve his life sentence for the murder of the popular DJ.
Michelle Ryan says waiting for Friday’s decision was mentally draining and while it won’t ease the pain if losing her father, the family hope they can start the process of letting go.
She told Tipp FM that she didn’t want to see her family suffer through another trial and that it has restored some of her faith in the Justice System :
“That process is going have to start and look it definitely is going to make things an awful lot easier knowing full right and well that we don’t have this hanging over us now that Daddy’s killer could be free to live his life, I think that is going to make it easier. I would much rather see him in grey tracksuit with a little number attached to him than him going around as if he was the Coq O’ the Walk, well no you’re a murderer and you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Thanks be to God all seven judges came back and that was huge surprise.”
Michelle also says they had tried to stop the publication of the book written about her father’s murder.
She says that this has been hanging over them for 12 years and hopes that they can start to move past it in some way now, describing the last 4 months as mental torture.
Michelle told Tipp today that they have been annoyed by some of the coverage which at times was inconsiderate and spoke about the book that was released on the case without their support :
“Because there is no compassion, and look about the book we did try and put a stop to it and we were told basically well it is going ahead without ye so you know even though it was our father these journalists were going around trying to get what they could on my father down around Tipperary and hang on a minute, has this man not done enough to Bobby Ryan… if you wanted to know something come and talk to us the people that knew him and don’t go and try and get your information off vultures, if they had shown a bit of compassion.”
