Seeing their daughter's killer get a longer sentence ends a frustrating involvement with the legal system, writes Barry Roche
The decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal to increase the jail sentence of Ballincollig man Ian Horgan for the killing and rape of Rachel Kiely brings to a close a frustrating seven year involvement with the criminal justice system for the Kiely family.
It began for John and Rose Kiely and their family on the afternoon of October 26th, 2000, when Rachel, a 22-year-old beautician, left her home in Innishmore Square, Ballincollig, Co Cork, to walk her dogs Molly and Monty in the nearby Regional Park.
She was seen in the park at around 5.15pm but when the dogs came home around 5.40pm, her mother became concerned.
The Kielys contacted friends and the gardaí and began searching only to find her body in undergrowth near some old ruins. She had been raped and strangled.
She was a Jehova's Witness and at a funeral service a few days later, her uncle, Elder Max Warden, spoke of her great faith and said her killing had left "a hole in the hearts" of her family and friends. Two weeks later, the Kielys learned that gardaí had arrested a then 16-year-old neighbour, Ian Horgan, from Innishmore Square, for questioning about the killing. He was later charged with her murder.
There followed an unwanted introduction to the intricacies of the criminal justice system for the Kielys and their children, Sarah, Rosalyn, Elizabeth and Jason, as with great dignity, patience and stoicism, they watched their daughter's killer go on trial.
When he first went on trial in May 2002, Horgan denied that he had anything to do with her death, but following a 26-day trial the jury of five women and seven men convicted him of murder and rape and he was jailed for life.
However, two years later in December 2004, the Kielys discovered that the Court of Criminal Appeal had overturned Horgan's conviction and ordered a retrial after the court ruled that the trial judge had not properly directed the jury on DNA evidence.
Semen found on Ms Kiely matched a DNA sample from Horgan, but his defence team argued successfully that Mr Justice Paul Butler had failed to direct the jury adequately on the DNA evidence and on "circumstantial evidence". The Court of Criminal Appeal, with Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman presiding, overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial, resulting in the Kiely family having to return to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, in March 2006, for a new murder trial. Horgan pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Kiely at the outset of the trial - the first time he admitted having anything to do with her death - and although the jury found him guilty of raping her, they decided that he was not guilty of murdering her.
Mr Justice Barry White told Horgan that the fact that former State pathologist Dr John Harbison, who testified in the first trial, became ill and was unable to testify in the second trial, was perhaps to Horgan's benefit.
The judge said the pathological evidence given by Dr Harbison's successor, Dr Marie Cassidy, based on photographs was "less forceful" and he acknowledged that this was unfortunate from the Kiely family's point of view.
Already disappointed that Horgan had been cleared of their daughter's murder, the Kiely family were to be further disappointed when Mr Justice White decided to impose an eight year sentence, with six years suspended, on Horgan for the manslaughter and rape.
Mr Justice White said Horgan had already spent 4½ years in jail since 2002 and with remission for good behaviour, this amounted to the equivalent of a six year sentence, so he was suspending six years of the eight-year term.
Because of that, Horgan was looking at a release from the sentence in September, but the DPP decided to appeal the leniency of Mr Justice White's sentence and yesterday the Kielys saw their daughter's killer jailed for 12 years.