Victims’ group calls for minimum tariffs for life-sentence murderers

Victim advocacy group AdVic has called for minimum tariffs for those imprisoned for life following the sentencing of murderer Graham Dwyer.

A decision on how long his sentence will be and whether or not to release him will be made by the Minister for Justice, on the advice of the Parole Board.

John O’Keeffe, chief executive of AdVic, offered condolences to Ms O’Hara’s family and friends and said while the sentence imposed on Dwyer was welcome, the term “life sentence” was misleading.

Traumatic experience

“Dwyer will technically be eligible for parole in seven years, so the phrase a minimum sentence of seven years is more apt,” he said.

“While this may seem like a subtle point, from a victim’s family’s perspective, the fact that their loved one’s killer will have their case referred to the parole board after such a short period of time is a traumatic experience.”

He said this was one of the reasons why the group believes that tariffs, or minimum sentences, should be introduced for homicide offences.

“Changing our system to adopt minimum tariffs would go some way to offering clarity to victims’ families, the general public and offenders as to exactly how long killers will serve,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

He said research showed 63 per cent of victims’ families would like to see Ireland adopt a similar model to the British Criminal Justice Act 2003, which imposes minimum tariffs for murder.

Separately, Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan said yesterday was a very traumatic day for the O’Hara family.

“My thoughts are very much with them, indeed with all of the families involved,” she said.