Telling his son’s story

The father of a Tallaght youth who died as a result of a stabbing incident ten years ago, is campaigning to have the case surrounding his son’s death re-opened.

Joe Reilly is being assisted by Greg O’Neill, a Dublin solicitor who specialises in investigative work and cases of alleged miscarriage of justice.

O’Neill is the solicitor who obtained a pardon for Nicky Kelly in his well-known 1992 case, and is representing the families of those killed in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings of 1974.

The Reilly case concerns Joe Reilly’s 16-year-old son Kevin, who was stabbed in a main artery in his chest by another teenager on April 15, 1992 in Tallaght, Dublin. Kevin Reilly died, on the spot, as a result of the wound.

In the trial that followed, the plea of self-defence entered on behalf of the teenager who stabbed him, was accepted by a majority of the jury and he was acquitted of Kevin’s murder.

There were two witnesses to the fatal knifing of Kevin Reilly: one was a friend of Kevin’s, and there was also another young man from the area, who was known to Kevin.

The former gave a lengthy statement to the gardai in Tallaght Station. In both this statement, and in court under oath, he stated that Kevin Reilly never endangered the accused.

However, the other witness never got the opportunity to tell the court what he’d seen. There is no record of the Tallaght gardai taking a statement from this young man. Joe Reilly believes that this is suspicious, considering that the youth in question had witnessed a fatal stabbing at close hand.

Furthermore, Joe Reilly alleges that a senior garda did have a meeting with this witness, and his solicitor, before the trial.

When contactd by hotpress about these allegations, the Garda Press Office replied: “If any evidence like this is put forward it will be fully investigated by An Garda Siochana. It is not our policy to discuss issues of this nature through the media.”

In early October, Sean Crowe, the Sinn Féin TD for the Tallaght area, asked a question in the Dail about the police handling of the case. Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, replied that there had been no garda mishandling of the investigation. However, this bland reassurance has done nothing to shake Joe Reilly’s conviction that the facts of the case require re-examination.

When the story of Joe Reilly’s campaign came to the attention of fellow Dublin singer/songwriter Joe Lahart, he was inspired to write a beautifully haunting song called ‘It’s Time My Son’s Story Was Told’, which was recently released on CD.

Lahart hopes that his song will help raise funds for Joe Reilly in his effort to seek justice, as he sees it, for his deceased son Kevin.

Ten years after his son’s death, Joe Reilly still suffers from symptoms of grief and psychological distress over what he perceives as a chronic injustice.

“I only want to clear my son’s name,” he says. “They tried to make out that Kevin was a scumbag, and that he attacked the accused who then acted in self-defence. But my son was a very decent kid.”

Joe Lahart’s song ‘It’s Time My Son’s Story Was Told’ is available on CD. Contact 01 451 1713 or 087 680 2429 for details. Donations to the Justice for Kevin Reilly fund can be made at EBS, sort code 939021, account no. 37401262