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The mother of an 11-year-old boy who was stabbed to death has asked people to remember him for the kind and caring child he was and not for the evil act that killed him.
A 28-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced today to life imprisonment for the murder of the boy in the south of the country more than a year ago.
The boy knew and trusted the man, but he attacked and stabbed him 27 times because he said a voice in his head told him to do so.
Judge Michael White said that “the unspeakably violent crime” represented “a terrible breach of trust” and nothing the court could say could alleviate the “inconsolable loss” of the family.
Article 252 of the Children’s Act 2001 prohibits the identification of child victims and criminalizes the publication of anything that could identify a child who is an alleged victim of a crime, including a deceased child.
The justice minister has said she will present a proposal to the cabinet next week to change the law that prevents child victims of crime from being identified.
In a statement regarding the victim’s impact, the boy’s mother said that her son was a fun, loving, happy, kind and sporty boy who loved soccer, kickboxing and boxing.
He had trusted his killer, he said, but his life was taken by “a hand of evil, an act of evil.”
She said she is haunted by thoughts of how scared her son must have been in the last moments of his life.
The boy had tried to defend himself and had defensive wounds on his arms.
The boy’s father said that his son was an incredibly loving and special boy who loved life, sports and music. “He lit up all the rooms,” he said. “His future on earth was going to be so bright.”
“He trusted his killer. I can only imagine how he felt in those last moments. No child or human being should leave the world this way,” he said.
“It is a very sad world when a child can be kidnapped by someone he trusts. Other children are safer with the perpetrator of this horrible crime behind bars.”
The boy was attacked in the kitchen of a house by a man he knew, hitting him twice with a hammer and stabbing him 27 times.
His killer then left the house, walked along a river, threw the knife into the reeds, and jumped into the water. Later he left and gave himself to gardaí.
He told them “I have killed” a child and that a voice in his head had told him to do it. “Henry told me to kill him,” he told gardaí. “Henry said it was fine.”
The man also told Gardaí that the boy had previously “scolded” him for going to a wedding and that he killed him for that. He also told them that he “idolized” the boy.
The court heard that the man was known to mental health services and had reported hearing voices since 2016, yet objectively he did not appear to be psychotic.
The man wrote a letter of apology saying that he was “truly sorry for the lasting effects, the pain, the pain and the devastation I have caused. No word of apology will make a difference.”
“I take full responsibility,” he said, “if I could rewind the clock, I would.”
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