A heartbroken mum, whose son was killed by a one punch assault, has said she believes Ireland should follow countries such as Australia and bring in minimum sentences for unlawful killings.
Janet O’Brien, whose eldest son Luke O’Reilly, 20, was killed by Dubliner Jack Hall Ellis, 21, believes a stronger deterrent is needed for young people.
The 21-year-old thug was sentenced to seven years in prison in June with the final two years suspended for the attack on the Tallaght, West Dublin man.
But, while Janet believes Hall Ellis’ punishment was ‘realistic’ she has stressed she has been contacted by many parents who were devastated after killers received one and two year sentences for similar attacks.
The hairdresser from the Kiltipper estate, told Dublin Live: “I know in Australia, in New South Wales, they’ve actually changed the law so it’s a minimum of eight years and I know over there they do a similar campaign which the guards are doing here [‘Use Your Brains Not Your Fists’] which I was obviously able to get involved in.
“But over there they’re actually calling it a cowardy punch campaign and there’s a champion boxer who’s leading it, Danny Green, and they’re having a huge response.
“He’s putting out these videos and basically trying to save the kids.
Luke O’Reilly, 20, died tragically after he was hit once from behind without warning by Hall Ellis who told gardai he was acting in “anger” when he punched the barber as they left a pub on Halloween night 2017.
Mr O’Reilly fell and hit his head on the ground at Old Blessington Road, Tallaght causing traumatic brain injuries which led to his death in hospital two weeks later.
In her victim impact statement, Janet paid tribute to her son and described how he had always been there for family and friends.
Janet said she believes the reason Luke was so viciously attacked was that he had been previously chatting to Hall Ellis’s “girlfriend and it annoyed Jack”.
She added: “He made out they were friends, they weren’t friends.”
Janet, who is receiving treatment for cancer, said she had to attend court 13 times in total, which took a major toll on her mental and physical health.
She explained: “I found it very hard to cope. When I stepped out of work the first time, even before the cancer diagnosis I had gone down because your head just won’t stop, you’re constantly, you’ve all kinds of scenarios going on [in your head] and you can’t function properly.
“I was diagnosed as having post traumatic stress disorder [eight months after Luke’s death] so I was given tablets for that.
Her partner of 10 years Gary Higgins said: “Your stress levels bring on all these [things], anything that’s going to happen is going to happen that year.”
Janet said she handed up a photograph of Luke to Judge Melanie Greally before the sentence was handed down on the advice of other families of victims so she “had a person” to think of and look at.
She added: “I keep in touch with them [other families] and one mum in particular I keep in touch with.. but I do think if it had’ve been one or two [years] I would have appealed it.
“And yeah the mams, that’s why they’re so vocal and trying to raise awareness about the ‘Use Your Brain Not Your Fists’ campaign.”
