The mother of Irish boxing champion Kevin Sheehy has said that his child, who was born after her father was brutally murdered, “will grow up knowing her daddy was a hero”.
Tracey Tully, whose son Kevin was repeatedly run over by a jeep driven by UK man Logan Jackson, told the Central Criminal Court today that: “Logan Jackson has two and a half years done of his time, so that will come off his sentence. But so do I. I have two-and-a-half years done also. But I don’t get out.”
Commenting on the life sentence handed down to the defendant today, Mrs Tully said: “There is not enough justice in my land or a thousand lands that will mend my broken heart and bring my son back to me.
"This won’t be much of a victory to us. Victory to us is standing in the National Stadium in Dublin cheering our boy on as we have done many times before.”
The Limerick woman told the court she does not “get a day off or a minute’s peace to breathe”, knowing how “brutally” her son’s life was taken.
“I did not know the extent of my son’s injuries until Kevin’s dad and I and our families had to sit through this court and listen to how my son was knocked down repeatedly and rolled over.
"Only time will tell the impact that will have on us as our sentence goes on."
Mrs Tully also spoke of the joy Kevin felt when he knew that he was becoming “a daddy” for the first time to a little girl.
“He was counting the days and weeks; he was so proud in the shop walking up and down the aisle rolling her pram and he did not care that it was pink.
“That was the last thing he got to do for Kevaeh, he never got to see Kevaeh come into the world or hold Kevaeh and see her beautiful face as everything was robbed from him and Kevaeh on July 1 2019,” she said.
“The only comfort in life right now is the beautiful gift he left us. His beautiful daughter Kevaeh Gracie. Her piercing blue eyes, just like you; her curly hair, just like you.
"Although she was surrounded by grief, she has an amazing ability just like her daddy to be funny and happy.
“She’s such a little character. Kevaeh lost her daddy that she has never met, but she has so many memories around our city.
"She will grow up knowing her daddy was a hero,” she said.
The testimony was heard as part of an emotional victim impact statement read today to the Central Criminal Court, where 31-year-old Jackson was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering Mr Sheehy.
Last Monday, Jackson of Longford Road, Coventry, England was found guilty by unanimous jury verdict of murdering Mr Sheehy, 20, at Hyde Road in Limerick city on July 1, 2019. He had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
The defendant, who has a prosthetic leg, was also found guilty last week on a second charge of endangerment. A concurrent sentence of seven years was imposed on this count today.
Jackson had denied intentionally or recklessly engaging in conduct which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to others to wit; driving a Mitsubishi jeep vehicle dangerously at high speed in the direction of pedestrians on the same occasion.
The Central Criminal Court trial heard that the five times Irish boxing champion fought to get up off the ground after he was first hit but the UK-registered Mitsubishi Shogun jeep ran him over twice again at speed.
The jury agreed with the prosecution’s case that Jackson had deployed his jeep as a murder weapon “as sure and as clear” as if it was a gun or a knife.
At the close of her statement, Mrs Tully read “The Boxer’s Prayer” to the court, saying: “I ask you not for victory, for somehow that seems wrong. But only for protection and courage to be strong. Strength now to conquer but just that I fight well. And prove myself a sportsman, at the final bell.”
A second victim impact statement was read to the court by Kevin’s younger sister Cassidy Tully, 15: "I was 12 years old when I got the worst news of my life at 4.30am: my brother got murdered.
"I was woken at 5.30am to be told he was gone, my brother gone. I didn’t believe it, not me, not my family.
"To see my parents, grandparents and family heart broken and having to deal with our worlds crashing down.
"At the age of 12 to hear my best friend, my father figure, my one and only brother to be found dead.
"I still can’t live with it, it breaks my heart everyday to live with the hurt and to see my family’s hearts broken, he was innocent”.
Another impact statement by Emma Colbert, partner of Kevin Sheehy, was read to the court on her behalf by prosecution counsel Dean Kelly SC: “I still can’t believe I will never hear his beautiful voice again. He was taken from me and my unborn baby.
"He was a month away from becoming a father for the first time. He never got to see his baby being born.
"He never got to hold her or know her name. She will have to grow the rest of her life without her daddy.
"She will never have her daddy and I will have to raise her alone.
"To think how he died, Kevin’s life ended for nothing. He should not be remembered for how he died but the kind and beautiful person he was.”
Following the statements defence counsel Michael Bowman SC, for Jackson, said his client wanted to apologise from the “bottom of his heart”. He said Jackson knew that he had “done wrong” and that he was “full of remorse and no apologies will ever be enough”.
Passing sentence today, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said she would like to extend her sympathies to Kevin’s family, who was “lost in such violent and senseless circumstances”.
She then sentenced Jackson to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder. The sentence was backdated to July 1 2019, when he went into custody.
