At yesterday's vigil to commemorate the 126 women killed violently in Ireland over the past 10 years, grieving family members vented their distress and frustration that the killers of their loved ones had not been brought to justice, writes Kathy Sheridanin Dundalk
"Absolutely a successful prosecution would help the family. We have a certainty that Siobhán was murdered; we have a certainty that she will never be with us in a physical way, that we will never see her again," said Aisling McLaughlin, a sister of Siobhán Kearney. "But what we don't know is why it happened, or what happened."
Ms Kearney's body was discovered in the bedroom of a house at Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, on the morning of January 31st, 2006. She had been locked into the upstairs bedroom and gardaí believe the scene was altered to make it appear as if she had taken her own life.
Marie Madeleine Opalka, an aunt of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was killed outside her holiday home near Schull, Co Cork, in 1996, said her family, up to now, had been like "little Easter lambs . . . But now? After 10 years? Now I think it is a scandal."
Det Garda Charlie Geoghegan from the Louth-Meath Garda division, urged anyone with information to come forward, saying that it was "never too late". The attendance also included representatives from Women's Aid and AdVic, the charity run by families bereaved by murder or by manslaughter.