FOUR MEN guilty of the sectarian murder of a Catholic schoolboy in Northern Ireland were sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday.
The four were handed minimum terms ranging from 13 years to 10 years at Antrim Crown Court for killing 15-year-old Michael McIlveen in Ballymena, Co Antrim, in May 2006.
Another man convicted of the teenager’s manslaughter was given a three-year suspended sentence.
Two others were also sentenced. One was given 10 months for affray and criminal damage, and the other a conditional discharge for criminal damage.
Schoolboy Michael, known to friends and family as Micky Bo, was punched, kicked and beaten with a baseball bat in an alleyway in the town after a row involving a group of Protestant teenagers.
He died hours later in hospital.
Earlier this year Aaron Wallace (21), Moat Road, Christopher Kerr (22), Carnduff Drive and Jeffrey Lewis (20), Rossdale, all Ballymena, were found guilty of his murder.
At the start of the trial, Mervyn Moon (20), Douglas Terrace, Ballymena, pleaded guilty to the murder.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Treacy sentenced all to life imprisonment.
The highest minimum tariff – the time to be served before being considered for release – was handed to Kerr, who the judge said had shown no remorse for his actions and had lied consistently through the trial.
He said the fact he had gone to his grandmother’s house to obtain the baseball bat showed his part in the murder was premeditated.
Wallace and Lewis were given 11-year tariffs – lesser terms because they had no part in procuring the bat or using it, the judge said.
Lewis was also given an additional one month in prison for a charge of criminal damage.
Mr Justice Treacy gave Moon credit for his timely guilty plea and over the fact he had shown clear and genuine remorse for his actions. He was given a 10-year minimum tariff.
Christopher McLeister (18), Knockeen Crescent, Ballymena, was given a three-year sentence, suspended for two years, for Michael McIlveen’s manslaughter.
The judge said he did not believe the public interest would be served by giving him an immediate custodial sentence and said he was certain the defendant would not trouble the courts again.
Paul Hanson (18), Condiere Avenue, who was found guilty of affray and criminal damage, was sentenced to a total of 10 months, while Peter McMullen (18), Meadowvale, Ballymena, who the jury had cleared of murder by direction of the court, was given a conditional discharge for causing criminal damage.
In a packed court, Mr Justice Treacy described the death of Michael as “a brutal and sectarian murder”. With the teenager’s parents and sisters sitting in the front row of the court with their backs to the seven suited accused in the dock, the judge acknowledged the pain the killing had inflicted on the McIlveen family.
“As I have said, Michael was only 15 at the time of his murder, and its devastating impact on his entire family has been set out in a moving victim impact statement signed by his mother,” he said.
The family statement was included in Mr Treacy’s judgment.– (PA)