Devastated parents, whose children were killed by their spouses, have criticised a new study about domestic homicides like murder-suicide cases.
The report commissioned by the Department of Justice has recommended the setting up of a national database to record violent family deaths, including murder-suicides. The recommendations must be signed into law – otherwise they are “not worth the paper they’re written on”, according to devastated dad Andrew McGinley.
Una Butler, whose husband John murdered their daughters Zoe, 6, and Ella, 2, in Cork in 2010 and then took his own life, said she is “disgusted” that the Justice Dept report does not make recommendations around mental health and family inclusion. Andrew’s children – Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla, 3 – were all suffocated to death in Dublin in January 2020 by his wife and their mum Deirdre Morley.
