AN American man was found guilty yesterday of the murder and rape of Irish student Orla Benson in Boston almost two years ago.
Pedro Rosario (29) was given two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for first degree murder and aggravated rape.
It took just over 2 1/2 hours for the jury of nine women and three men to find him guilty. Rosario, who had a previous conviction for rape, was out on parole when he murdered the 22-year-old student from Killarney, Co Kerry, a court in Boston heard yesterday.
Ms Benson's parents and brother made emotional statements to the court before sentencing was passed. Her father Thomas said that Rosario had taken the sunshine out of their lives. Orla was a "beautiful human being". "In murdering my daughter he brought the world of a gentle, loving, thoughtful, sensitive woman to an end." Rosario was a "cowardly excuse for a man", he told the court.
Orla's mother, Betty, held a lock of Orla's hair in her hand during the trial. Speaking of her only daughter, she said: "This murderer, this city took one of the best. Your honour, peace and justice is in your hands now."
"It's a pity that there is no death penalty in this state (Massachusetts), for surely this monster deserves it for his acts," her brother Aaron said. "He brutally took from her the chance to fall in love get married, and have children," he told the court.
Ms Benson, who had studied in Dublin City University, had gone to work in Boston for the summer. She had just left a group of friends and was walking home to her apartment in the early hours of September 23rd, 1995, when she was attacked.
Her mutilated body was found later that day on a staircase outside the building where Rosario worked, just 50 yards from her home.