THE FATHER of Roy Collins said outside the court yesterday that his family had achieved “some closure” with the conviction of James Dillon for the murder.
“It doesn’t get everyone that was involved in his murder and that’s the sad part,” Steve Collins snr said, “but we have to be happy . . . that we got some sort of closure with today, with the conviction.”
The court heard that Dillon would not implicate anyone else in the killing because of “fear for himself and his family”. A man stopped by gardaí along with Dillon on the day of the murder was not identified in court. Mr Collins thanked gardaí in Limerick for their work on the case, calling them “the best in the world”.
He also paid tribute to former minister for defence Willie O’Dea and Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern for introducing new criminal justice legislation.
Asked if he believed there would be further convictions for his son’s murder, Mr Collins said he hoped so.
He believed there was “a group of other people” involved in the murder and he would like to think that if the evidence was gathered or someone came forward with further information, then the killers would be “brought to justice”.
“Because we are dealing with terrible people here and people that shouldn’t be on the streets really. They’re a menace to society and they have to be taken away.”
Mr Collins said anyone would be in fear of these people who had “tentacles everywhere”.
“They can get children as young as eight to 10 to 12 involved and you just don’t know where it’s going to come from. These people are cowards.”