Gerald Barry had incurred a long list of convictions before his latest ones, writes Ronan McGreevy
ONE WAS a sweet-natured only child who loved to share and had a “special manner”.
The other was a serial criminal from an utterly dysfunctional family who had been in trouble with the law from an early age and had a string of convictions.
The terrible juxtaposition of the lives of 17-year-old Swiss student Manuela Riedo and Gerald Barry (29), the man who murdered her and dumped her body on waste ground, was made clear at the Central Criminal Court on Saturday.
Above the incessant sound of an alarm which had gone off in Court 2, Supt Tom Curley read the exhaustive list of previous convictions which Barry had accumulated before he strangled Ms Riedo.
There were convictions for burglary and violent disorder and innumerable drug and road traffic offences, which were punctuated by spells in Trinity House and St Patrick’s Institution when he was a teenager, and jail when an adult.
It was left to Det Supt PJ Durkin to outline details of the most serious incidents.
In 1997, Barry had been given a five-year sentence for violent disorder arising out of the death of Tipperary man Colm Phelan, who was killed during a fracas in Eyre Square, Galway, in July 1996. In October 1998 he broke into the home of an elderly man who was blind in one eye and assaulted him so badly that the man lost his sight in the other eye.
Barry was given a two-year sentence.
He was also convicted of a sexual assault on his ex-partner.
Det Supt Durkin said Barry was from a family of eight, four brothers and three sisters.
“From an early age he has been in trouble with the law,” he said.
Barry’s counsel, Martin Giblin SC, suggested to Det Supt Durkin that the accused came from an “extremely dysfunctional” family. “I would agree with that,” Det Supt Durkin replied.
Mr Giblin continued: “Could a case be made that the authorities might well have intervened in the case of Mr Barry when he was of a much younger vintage? Would you agree?” Det Supt Durkin responded: “I agree.”
Throughout the hearing, Barry, who wore a light blue shirt which was not tucked in and a dark blue tie, offered no reaction.
He stared straight ahead and made no eye contact with anybody.
After the case, a source close to the investigation said Barry and his siblings should have been taken into care given the violent nature of their upbringing, which included exposure to sexual violence at a young age.
Manuela, by contrast, was an only child who received everything a parent should give: “love, friendship, honesty, warmth, security and much more”, said her father Hans-Pieter in a victim impact statement which he read in German and which was translated into English by Garda Sandra Waldron from Salthill Garda station.
His daughter supported a foster child through World Vision, helped a physically disabled child in her class and wrote a project on Nicaragua.
“Sometimes she shared so much of what she had with others that she ended up herself with nothing,” he said.
She was a “polite, courteous, attentive and cheerful girl . . . loved by her fellow students, both boys and girls,” he said.
Near the end when he said they had lost “our angel”, Mr Reido’s heartbroken wife Arlette crumpled in her seat and broke down.
Mr Justice Barry White said he concurred with the jury’s verdict, which he said would be shared by all right-thinking people.
The judge spoke of all the messages of sympathy that the family had received.
“I hope that you have seen the better side of the Irish nation. I trust you will find it in your heart to forgive the Irish nation for the grave injustice you have suffered,” he said to her parents.
Outside the court, Mr Riedo did just that.
He thanked the gardaí, the people who had sent flowers and cards, the Swiss embassy and the city of Dublin for putting him up during the two-week trial.
“He just wants to thank all the Irish people who have helped him through this difficult time,” said Garda Waldron in translation.
He had only one word to describe the man who murdered his daughter: Teufel, the German word for devil.
“Ireland is a safer place now,” he added.
As he left, Mr Riedo managed a smile and broke into English. “I hope to return to Ireland with smiles, not tears.”