Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice on Friday after Gavin Murphy had been sentenced for the murder of his sister, Jennifer, Jason Poole made a statement on behalf of the family.
“Today the mandatory life sentence was handed down to the murderer of Jennifer, our beloved mother, daughter, and sister. Justice was served. However, every day we as a family are suffering from this horrific murder.
“A life sentence was given to us, her family, one without parole, for the rest of our lives.
“Jennifer was 24 years old and loved life. She was honest, caring, and hardworking. Jennifer loved to smile and had a heart of gold.
“She was bubbly and loved by everyone who met her. She was an amazing mother to her two children, who she loved and protected so dearly.
“She had so much more to give this world, but her life was taken from her in the most horrendous way.
“We miss Jennifer so much. Our lives are not the same without her.
“We are living two lives – the one before Jennifer was taken from us in the most horrific way and the one we live today without her.
“We will never let Jenny’s memory fade and will continue to fight in her name.
“Domestic violence in Ireland has become far too common and it is not OK.
“We as a family call on all women and men that find themselves in situations where domestic violence is part of their lives to please seek help and support.
“Speak to the guards or contact and organisation for help.
“We do not want another family to have to go through what we are going through.
“More needs to be done in this country with legislation, but everyone can be an ally on this matter.
“However, today is Jennifer’s day and we have finally got justice for her short life.
“As a family, we could not let today go without thanking everyone for their continued support to us over the past 12 months.
“We would like to thank everyone who has supported us through these 12 months. This has not gone unnoticed.
“We would especially like to thank the team of gardaí in Finglas for all they have done to ensure that Jenny and us, her family, got justice for this horrendous crime.
“We would particularly like to thank our family liaison officer for all he has done for us in the past 12 months.
“We would wish to thank the media for the privacy shown to us as a family over the past 12 months, and continue to ask for privacy at this time.
‘Her name, her legacy’
“But we will speak to you more about Jennifer and we thank you for that.
“Today we finally get to start our grieving and ensuring that this day is about Jennifer, her justice, her name, her legacy and not that of her murderer. Thank you”.
In his statement, Detective Chief Superintendent Finbarr Murphy said he wanted to extend the sympathies of everyone involved in the force and in particular those who had worked on the case “to Jennifer’s family, her mother and father, her two children, her relatives and the community in Finglas and her colleagues that played sport with her in Erin’s Isle”.
He paid tribute to the family “for the dignified manner in which they have dealt with this really tragic and heartbreaking situation”.
“Jennifer’s death is a reminder to society in Ireland that we have a problem in relation to domestic abuse. We have to double our efforts in all our different roles to challenge this domestic abuse going on out there.
“So I have a message for anyone watching this who is living with domestic abuse in their life that we are giving you an invitation to come forward to gardaí and to talk to us and despite what your abuser might tell you, that we won’t listen to you or that you are not valued, we value you.
You are valued by society and we invite you to come forward and talk to us at an early stage, don’t wait for a crisis, come talk to us and we will introduce you to the various other non-governmental services, voluntary services that are there that will help you. If we can help and you can get the right help, you can win your lives back.
“In relation to the abusers watching this, your behaviour is unacceptable, it’s abhorrent and it’s toxic to any relationship or any society. You must take ownership of your behaviour, it’s not the abused person that is the cause of this, it’s the abuser, it’s your behaviour and you should seek help to stop this, if you can’t stop of your own accord. It must stop.”