THE Gillespie family has appealed to the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, to keep John, Gallagher (29) in hospital. In July, 1989, Gallagher was found guilty but insane of murdering Ms Annie Gillespie (56), and her daughter Anne (18) in September, 1988. The family never accepted the jury's verdict.
Mr Patrick Maguire, a brother in law of Annie Gillespie, said he believed that if the Lifford man was released from the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin, his life and the lives of his wife and children would again be put at risk.
"The last time I saw John Gallagher he had a gun to my head. He pulled the trigger but the gun jammed. He killed my sister in law Annie and her daughter Anne in front of me. I have no doubt that he is capable of killing again."
The two women were killed as they returned to their car in the grounds of Sligo General Hospital where they had been visiting Annie's elderly mother.
Since John Gallagher began his campaign for release six months after the verdict was delivered they have lived in fear. Their concerns were heightened when the director of the Central Mental Hospital, Dr Charles Smith advised the High Court he could not justify Gallagher's continued detention and an inquiry into the case was ordered.
"It's difficult for anyone to appreciate what we have gone through. I remember that day as if it had just happened. I was looking down the wrong side of a .22 rifle. There is no way I could face him again.
"My children never saw the final trauma, they managed to get clear of the car, but they will never forget what happened.
They are still afraid of him. My sister in law Teresa is handicapped. She was in the car at the time and he just executed them around her.
"John Gallagher is evil. He committed murder most foul. I never want to see him released. But it seems we don't matter anymore, just as the dead people don't matter," he said.
Mr Maguire says Gallagher threatened members of the family and locals in Stranorlar, Co Donegal, in the days leading up to the murders when Anne Gillespie complained to gardai her former boyfriend had raped her.
"He told us he would spill blood, and that it would not be his own. He openly told us that if we put him away his hatred would only build up," Mr Maguire told The Irish Times yesterday.
Gallagher had gone out with Anne Gillespie since she was 15 years old. When she tried to end their relationship he became extremely aggressive. At a wedding a week before he killed the two women Gallagher attacked a young man who had danced with Anne with a knife.
She told friends she believed he would kill her. She complained to local gardai but they could not restrain him until the Wednesday before her death when she said he raped her. After being questioned by local gardai, Gallagher signed himself into St Conal's Hospital. However, the following day when Ms Gillespie apparently indicated she did not intend pursuing the complaint because she feared going to court, he signed himself out of the psychiatric hospital.
"After the trial we were told by a senior psychiatrist that Gallagher could be cured but that it would take 20 or 30 years. Now they are telling us he is sane after just eight years," Mr Maguire said yesterday. "I am angry. We are very vulnerable here."
He does not agree with the opinion that Gallagher has no identified victims or no scores to settle. "I believe I am a potential victim. He's hardly going to tell them that he went out to kill three or four more people at the time, but didn't succeed, is he? But I have no doubt that he could kill again."