My son Jamie turned 19 on November 17th 2009. He was killed on December 5th…He wanted to do a degree in Sport Science and Technology and the Colleges in Dublin were full for his first year so he booked his second year in Inchicore College and found a College in Belfast to take him for his first year. Jamie was only in Belfast for eight weeks and came home every weekend but he rang me on the Wednesday before he was killed to ask if it was ok for him to go to a party and not come home till the following weekend. He went to the party but so did his killer..Mark Keenan who according to others was being rude and obnoxious all night. Jamie went out on the balcony and according to his killer an argument broke out (we only have his word for this) Jamie was lifted and thrown off the balcony where he plunged nine stories to his death. Our family was shattered to pieces and we are still learning to live our lives in a different way without him. We miss his smile, his presence, his love. I was so lucky to have him as a son and was always complimented on what a lovely young man he was. His killer only served two years in prison…two years for taking the life of a good person who had never been in trouble…two years for taking a son, brother, grandson, nephew away from his family. We are serving a life sentence of heart break |