Parole Board meeting for Christmas Day killer Hennessy. Family of murdered mother and daughters slam process.

Byline: EXCLUSIVE BY paul healy

CHRISTMAS day killer Brian Hennessy is to appear before the Parole Board within days - just before the anniversary of the infamous murders.

The 15th anniversary is approaching of the day he killed Sharon Whelan, 30, and her girls Zarah, seven, and two-year-old Nadia at their home in Windgap, Co Kilkenny.

Sharon's heartbroken brother John was given the news of the shocking development this week.

He said: "I was told he is coming before the board before Christmas and there'll be a decision made then in or around March.

"The timing of this is not lost on us and I know my parents are quite worried about it. I would be very fearful of someone like Hennessy coming back into society because of what he is capable of."

Sharon was raped and strangled by Hennessy in her home before he set fire to the house in an attempt to cover his tracks - killing Zarah and Nadia in the process.

FLEEING The monster is now into his 14th year behind bars, having pleaded guilty to all three murders in 2009.

He is serving that sentence in Dublin's Arbour Hill - a facility primarily housing sex offenders.

In the summer John Whelan got the chance to meet the Parole Board himself - and lay out his reasons for why he doesn't want his sister's killer to go free.

Now the killer himself is to have his own hearing before the Board by next week - where he will have the chance to hear John's arguments and to plead for release back into the community.

John told us in an exclusive interview: "It kind of comes around every couple of years and it's something that the family and other families have had to go through every couple of years. We're campaigning to have that changed.

"We're looking for the State to actually listen to what the families are saying and not be compliant in retraumatising them.

needs start what of a we want john whelan murdered "That's what happens every time we go before the parole board. We're dragged back to the very start again.

"You don't get any time to move on or even come to terms with it, if that's even possible."

John told us of his own appearance before the Board this summer - in which he laid out in detail why he and Sharon's heartbroken family don't want Hennessy to see the light of day any time soon.

He said: "The first thing I said to them was all things being equal, and if there was a fair justice system, I should not be sitting here in front of you right now. I shouldn't be here. And it's nothing personal I said. I have a duty to be here. This is what the State is asking me to do. So I have to be here, I said, to represent Sharon and the girls. But I shouldn't have to be here, and shouldn't have to plead for Hennessy to be kept behind bars.'" John says Christmas time is difficult every year - and his parents in particular struggle with the anniversary.

John said: "I was having a conversation with my Mum last night and she was feeling very low, very down and I suppose I do be trying to get her kind of focus on what we have, the other grandchildren and trying to make Christmas for them."

Ruthless killer Hennessy, was 23 when he raped and strangled Sharon, who was not known to him. and then set the house on fire, knowing two children were inside, before fleeing.

John is now calling for a citizens assembly and for the Government to do more to prevent families having to constantly keep killers behind bars every two years.

He said: " I think the whole system needs to be looked at.

"I think it might be something that maybe even a citizens assembly can look at the justice system and how it's failing families and what can be done to improve it.

"I'm not just talking about homicide. I know there's lots of agencies out there calling for the same thing.

"I think a conversation needs to start about what kind of a society we want and how we look at and deal with any violent crime."

Conversation needs to start about what kind of a society we want JOHN WHELAN brother of murdered sharon

CAPTION(S):

horror end Mum Sharon and little Zarah

sick brute Depraved murderer Hennessy

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Author:	EXCLUSIVE BY paul healy
Publication:	The Mirror (London, England)
Date:	Dec 14, 2023
Words:	745
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