A man whose daughter was beaten to death by her husband launched a scathing attack on the justice system after the man received an eight-year sentence.
Mr Simon Cleere told the Central Criminal Court today he had not received justice for the death of his daughter Marie and said that his family had been left to deal with the consequences.
He added that the accused, Patrick Hennessy, had killed Marie at the side of the road and her sisters had never recovered from the impact.
Mr Cleere made his comments after Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan invited him to address the court after sentence.
Mr Justice Finnegan said that the sentence he passed was bound by the verdict of a jury, which found Hennessy guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder.
Hennessy (37) killed Marie in front of their two young daughters after he confessed to her that he was suspended from his job as manager of Callan social welfare office.
The Central Criminal Court heard that Hennessy had been embezzling cash from the office for years. Officers from the Department of Social Welfare suspended Hennessy from his job three days before the killing.
Mr Justice Finnegan accepted the jury's finding that Hennessy had suffered a temporary and total loss of control at the time of the killing but said that the provocation that led to the attack appeared to be "of a very low level".
Consultant Psychiatrist, Professor Patricia Casey, had earlier told the court that Hennessy was not suffering from any mental illness. He appeared to be "a regular guy" who was happily married before the killing.
He feared the consequences of telling his wife that he had been suspended from his job and his actions were those of someone who had acted irrationally under severe pressure.