Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The parents of Mari Keane-Connolly yesterday said they will never forgive John Lynch for killing their little daughter.
Teresa Keane and Richard Connolly welcomed the 13-year sentence handed down by Judge Anthony Hunt to John Lynch for starting the house fire which claimed the life of their youngest daughter.
“It will never bring Mari back but 13 years is a long time for him to be sitting, thinking about what he has done,” Ms Keane said.
“If he had stopped for one second when he went into that house he would have seen the toys, he would have the three uniforms that were left on the kitchen table. It was a family home, there was furniture and everything in it and if he had taken two seconds just to look up at the walls or even the fireplace he would have seen the photos of the kids.”
Ms Keane said Lynch could have killed four people that night on Oct 3.
“He had no consideration for Richard and the three girls. When he went in that night he just didn’t care, he lit that fire and just walked out, not considering that two or three hours later Mari would be dead, Richard would be seriously hurt, and that two girls would be scarred for life. I will just never understand why he did it.
“He might have got 13 years but he is the one that has left us with the life sentence,” Ms Keane said.
The family and friends wore white T-shirts with ‘Dora the Explorer’ and a photo of Mari on them.
“She was a happy child. She loved nothing more than watching telly; Dora, it was Dora 24-7. She’d get up in the morning at 6 o’clock to be ready for school for 9. She was always up early first thing. Richard would come over and bring the three girls to school.
“She was such a friendly little thing. Everyone knew who she was, she just had that way about her.”
Ms Keane said she agonises over what happened to her daughter in her final moments.
“I know Mari was a sleepwalker and she was the hardest child to wake up. It took nearly an hour in the morning to wake her up. So knowing her she probably went back in the window thinking it was a dream or she was half asleep.
“We have to live without her and I will always wonder in my head: ‘Did she suffer?’ Was she screaming out for someone and there was no one there and she died on her own?
“I have photos and all we have left in the house is what the fellas found, her ponytail, which I have kept in a box at home. That was all that was left of her. Did he not think that we have to live with that?”
Richard Connolly, who may never walk unaided again because of the spinal injuries he suffered when he jumped from the roof, said his other two daughters, Lauren and Naomi, who now live with him, sometimes talk about the fatal night.
“They speak to me and Teresa about it. They are old enough. I know they were only seven and six, but they still know what went on,” he said.
Mr Connolly said life will never be the same again. “Since that night, every night I go to bed I’d make sure I’d have windows and doors, everything locked. I am afraid. I am up every hour, I am sleeping during the day, [then not] at night. One time I could sleep but I can’t now. There is not an hour goes by during the night that I am awake. If I hear a bang I am up.
“She was the best daughter anyone could ask. I remember that night I brought her upstairs and put her into bed and we were all ready for school the next morning. She is just the best daughter I could ever ask for, and Lauren and Naomi, they’ll never forget. They are like me, they’ll never forget, they know what happened that night; we were the three there, we could have been killed. I was just lucky that I got out and got them out.
“Mari will never be forgotten in my eyes anyway,” he added.