Latest news with #victimImpact
Irish Times
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Only the introduction of Tina's maiden name could stir a response from ‘monster' Richard Satchwell
'My name is Sarah Howard. I am Tina Dingivan's niece.' Richard Satchwell , the man about to be sentenced to life for Tina's murder, moved his head up, ever so slightly, when her name was spoken. Throughout the trial, the woman he killed, his wife, was referred to as Tina Satchwell. His name. Sarah finished reading her victim impact statement. READ MORE If it made any impact, he certainly didn't show it. He never once looked at her. But she made sure to look at him as she passed by the dock, an expression of disgust on her face. Next up. 'My name is Lorraine Howard. I am Tina Dingivan's sister.' Again, just a tiny movement of the head at the mention of that name. Lorraine finished reading her victim impact statement. Satchwell, motionless, eyes cast down, ignored her too. It was only the pointed use of Tina's family name which seemed to stir some flickers of awareness. Lorraine Howard said Richard Satchwell 'stole' precious time she would have had with her sister, Tina (pictured). Photograph: Irish Examiner Both women called him out for the cruel, manipulative 'monster' he really is. They described how he continued to torture them with public outpourings of his love for his 'missing' wife after he killed her and hid the body. They told him how his need to have 'ultimate control' over Tina led to her violent death and a lifetime of pain for her grieving family. Sarah and Lorraine may as well have been talking to the wall. Minutes later, Satchwell's lawyer would confirm to the court that he intends to appeal his conviction. He believes he didn't murder Tina. A jury of his peers agreed unanimously that he did. He couldn't control them. And what Tina's sister and niece did from the witness stand in court number six on Wednesday was something he can never control either – they gave her back her name, the one she had before she met him, reintroducing the woman they knew before his malign influence infested her life. He believes he didn't murder his wife, Tina Satchwell. She belonged to him. He loves her. But, as the court case revealed, and her sister and niece confirmed, he couldn't allow a life for Tina Dingivan. When her maiden name was so deliberately introduced – no mention of his, it was a simple, but very powerful gesture by her family. Richard Satchwell holding a photo of his missing wife Tina at their home in Youghal, Co Cork. Photograph: Irish Examiner And perhaps, with those slight flickers of recognition, Richard Satchwell knows that too. There was little surprise in court when Judge Paul McDermott was told that the English-born, Cork-based lorry driver intends to fight on. He thinks he should not have been found guilty of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a chest freezer before entombing her in a concrete grave under the stairs in their home and then contacting her niece to offer her the empty freezer. Always thinking of others. Gardaí and Fr Bill Bermingham after human remains are found following the search of Richatd and Tina Satchwell's home in Youghal, Co Cork. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision 'To think I could have taken that into my family home and used it. I mean, what kind of person can do that?' said Sarah, in disbelief. But the theatrically loving husband believes he should not be sent down for life because 'he never intended to kill her', said defence counsel Brendan Grehan, acting under instruction from his client. Furthermore, counsel said, Satchwell wanted it to be known that 'despite anything that was said in this trial, Tina was a lovely person'. You could hear people catch their breath in the back rows, where Tina's family and friends were seated. Satchwell's self-centred delusion still had the capacity to surprise after a five week trial. 'It's not right,' a woman in the public gallery loudly whispered as the court rose and the prisoner quickly exited, head down, looking at nobody. Despite feeling so strongly about the nature of his conviction, and being so keen to underline how he wanted people to know that 'Tina was a lovely person' (after lying about her being violent towards him and running off with their life's savings), he made no reaction when his barrister delivered his message for him. But despite all which was said during the trial, Richard wanted to seem nice in public about the 'lovely' woman he murdered. Self-serving until the very end. The details of the case have been well aired. It's the stuff of true crime TV potboilers. But the callous nature of Satchwell's cover-up and his co-option of Tina's grieving family into his sickening narrative of a heartbroken husband desperate for the return of his missing wife was laid bare by the emotional testimony of Sarah and Lorraine. Mary Collins, the mother of Tina Dingivin. Photograph: Collins Courts As Tina's mother Mary Collins listened from the body of the court, Lorraine said Satchwell 'stole' the precious time she would have had with her sister, time he also stole from others 'even before he murdered her by isolating and alienating her from her many friends when she was alive'. How could anyone who claimed to love his wife so much do what he did? 'I feel no sentence could ever be enough for the monster who took Tina from us.' What does a monster look like? A monster looks like a nondescript bespectacled little man in a rumpled over-sized blue and white striped shirt which hangs out over his navy trousers. He silently sits with his stubbled jaw resting on his fist, body angled away from the public and the witness box, head down. When told to stand for sentencing, he sticks his hands in his pockets and looks vacantly into the distance. Cowardly, controlling Richard Satchwell murdered his wife. Tina Dingivan's name lives on.
The Sun
6 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Killer Richard Satchwell caged for life as family fume ‘monster showed Tina's dog more respect' in emotional statements
RICHARD Satchwell has today been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife Tina as her family told how they "will never be able to forgive" him for what he did. The British truck driver, 58, had denied the murder of Tina Satchwell between March 19 and March 20 2017. 7 7 7 The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin reached the unanimous verdict last Friday after nine hours and 28 minutes of deliberations. Mr Justice Paul McDermott today heard victim impact statements from Tina's heartbroken family before imposing the mandatory life sentence. They described her as a kind and gentle woman who loved animals. Tina's cousin, Sarah Howard said the "emotional toll of her loss is something I will carry with me always". She said: "I am here today to speak about my aunt Tina who was taken from us in the most violent way - taken from us by someone who was supposed to love her. "What happened to her has shaken me to the core and I can never be the person I was before this happened. "The emotional toll is something I carry with me always - Tina was not just my aunt but my best friend." Sarah's harrowing statement continued: "Listening to the lies (of Richard Satchwell) was very hard - the horrible things done to wrapped in plastic and buried. "Richard decided to portray Tina in the trial in a way she was not. Tina Satchwell's family speak outside court after husband Richard is found guilty of murder "Having her name tarnished was very difficult - it ruined the last few weeks of my pregnancy. "Finding out that Richard had put Tina in a chest freezer and then texted me a few days after to offer it to me...I was kind of person can do that? "I ask the court to consider the cruelty involved. This has left a permanent hole in our lives." Tina's half-sister Lorraine Howard said the way Tina was buried in plastic in her own home 'sends shivers down my spine every time I think about it'. 'MONSTER TOOK TINA FROM US' She said: "Hearing all the gruesome details and seeing many hours of Garda interviews - it had taken a physical toll on my body. "Thinking about what my poor sister went appalling way my sister was buried - wrapped in plastic and buried beneath soil and concrete sends shivers down my spine every time I think about it. "We have so many happy memories of Tina. I feel Tina is with us. "That monster took Tina from rubble of her treated Tina's body with such disrespect - he showed Tina's dog more respect." She added: "I will never be able to forgive Richard Satchwell for what he has done." SATCHWELL TO APPEAL VERDICT Satchwell appeared in court this morning in a light blue shirt and navy slacks. His barrister Brendan Grehan SC told the court that Satchwell intends to appeal, and that he 'never intended to kill Tina'. Mr Grehan also said that Satchwell said 'despite anything he said in the trial, Tina was a lovely person'. The court was told the couple married in the UK on Tina's 20th birthday, and later settled in Co Cork, first in Fermoy before moving to Youghal in 2016. The trial heard that on March 24 2017, Richard Satchwell went to gardai and claimed his wife had left their Youghal home four days ago because their relationship had deteriorated. 7 7 Satchwell had also claimed Tina had taken €26,000 in cash from savings they kept in the attic, which the court later heard they did not have the capacity to save. He formally reported his wife missing in May 2017 and claimed to investigators that his wife was sometimes violent towards him. In the following years, he made over a dozen media appearances in which he spoke extensively about the morning he claimed Tina left the house and never returned. After her remains were found buried under a concrete floor under the stairs in their home in October 2023, Satchwell claimed that Tina 'flew' at him with a chisel. He further claimed that to protect himself, he held a dressing gown belt to her neck before she went limp. His denial of the charge was ultimately rejected by the jury who found him guilty of murder. 'MASTER OF MANIPULATION' And we last week revealed that cops believe Satchwell had spent MONTHS planning his wife's murder, when he realised she was planning to leave him. Detectives also suspect his decision to tell Gardai on March 24, 2017, that she had left him was also part of his plan to hide her brutal murder. One senior investigator told The Irish Sun on Sunday: 'The speed with which he flew into alibi mode would suggest a certain degree of planning in this horrific crime. 'He did a number of things very quickly and he put a lot of things into action after killing his wife. 'Once he had completed the murder, he then had a story in place about the disappearance and was portraying himself as a victim. 'He was also a great actor and had everything planned for the sole purpose of avoiding being arrested for the murder of a completely innocent woman. 'He had to have a strategy and that was playing the victim. He was a master of manipulation.' 7
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Son is sentenced to life in prison for murdering his ill mother in her home
The brother of a man who murdered their ailing 58-year-old mother has told the Central Criminal Court that 'someone who should have protected' her had instead taken her life in the 'most cruel, violent and sadistic way possible'. In a victim impact statement on Tuesday, Angela Canavan's son Keith Canavan said his brother Nigel did not just take their mother's life, but had also tried to take her dignity in the way he had killed her 'using the one method she feared the most'. Keith also said his brother had 'portrayed her in the courtroom not as the woman she truly was, but as someone he could scapegoat to protect himself'. He said his mother always had a fear of anyone touching her neck and 'to think that this was the way she died in the one way she had a deep fear of' was 'unthinkable' and 'beyond comprehension' to him. READ MORE Keith said Nigel had denied their mother 'even the smallest grace, both in her final moments and in how he spoke about her after'. In his statement, Keith also said that anyone who would have known Nigel would have known how much he loved their mother, but his actions had not shown love. Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said Ms Canavan was a well-loved and accomplished person and he said it 'must be beyond any mother's darkest imaginings that they would die at the hand of the child they gave birth to'. Angela Canavan previously had a 'glittering career' as a psychotherapist. Photograph: On Tuesday Nigel Canavan (39) was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted last month of murdering his mother. Desmond Dockery SC, defending, said the defendant's brother Keith had made a passing reference in his victim impact statement that despite the violence inflicted by Nigel on their mother, anyone who knew Nigel would have known how much he loved his mother. On May 16th, a jury convicted Nigel of murder, rejecting his claim he was provoked and defending himself from an attack by his mother, whom he strangled and smothered to death in her own home. Nigel claimed that stab wounds to each of Ms Canavan's thighs, one of which tracked to 13.5cm in depth, were self-inflicted by his mother, who the trial heard had a 'glittering career' as a psychotherapist before succumbing to alcoholism. Nigel also claimed he had acted in self-defence when his mother, who had a brain injury from a fall four years before her death, attacked him by swinging her open hands at him and trying to kick him. Taking the stand during his trial, Nigel further accused his mother of deliberately provoking him by calling him the 'worst son in the world' and saying during a heated argument how she wished she had never had him. The jury also rejected a suggestion by Nigel's defence that his mother's alleged insults so provoked him that he could be found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. A pathologist found that, besides being strangled and smothered, Ms Canavan had suffered a laceration to the top of her head, bruises to her face, body, arms and legs and three broken ribs. Some injuries indicated she tried to defend herself from an attack, and bruises to her chest suggested she had been manhandled before her death, the court heard. Nigel, with an address at Erris Gardens, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, had pleaded not guilty to his mother's murder at her home in St John's Terrace, Sligo, on May 1st, 2023.
BreakingNews.ie
7 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Nigel Canavan sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his mother
The brother of a man who murdered their ailing 58-year-old mother in her own home has told the Central Criminal Court that "someone who should have protected" her had instead taken her life in the "most cruel, violent and sadistic way possible". In his victim impact statement on Tuesday, Angela Canavan's son Keith Canavan said his brother Nigel didn't just take their mother's life but had also tried to take her dignity in the way he had killed her "using the one method she feared the most". Advertisement Keith Canavan also said his brother had "portrayed her in the courtroom not as the woman she truly was, but as someone he could scapegoat to protect himself". Keith Canavan said his mother always had a fear of anyone touching her neck and "to think that this was the way she died in the one way she had a deep fear of" was "unthinkable" and "beyond comprehension" to him. The witness said his brother had denied their mother "even the smallest grace, both in her final moments and in how he spoke about her after". In his statement, Keith Canavan also said that anyone who would have known his brother Nigel would have known how much he loved their mother, but his actions had not shown love. Advertisement He added: "The actions he took that night were that he battered and killed our mother. The actions he took in this courtroom were to scapegoat her as the antagonist; someone who attacked him, someone who was out of her mind on alcohol, someone who was mentally unwell. Nigel chose to focus on how he was feeling throughout this entire trial. How he was untouchable. How he put his hands on my mother's neck and ended her life so, in his words, she wasn't a threat to him anymore. "These are not the attributes of a person or a son who has love in his heart for our mother. These are not the actions of someone who wanted to be there for his mother. These are the actions of someone who wanted to take control of a vulnerable person who was physically disabled so he could win," he added. Presiding judge Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo noted on Tuesday that Ms Canavan was a well-loved and accomplished person and that it "must be beyond any mother's darkest imaginings that they would die at the hand of the child they gave birth to". "The defendant will have to live with what he did," he added. The testimony was heard as part of an emotional victim impact statement read to the Central Criminal Court, where Nigel Canavan (39) was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering his mother Angela Canavan. The sentence was backdated to April 30th last. Advertisement Earlier, the court heard that Nigel Canavan has two previous convictions, one for assault and the other for drink driving, with both committed on February 26th, 2023. Defence counsel, Desmond Dockery SC, said the defendant's brother Keith had made a passing reference in his victim impact statement that despite the violence inflicted by Nigel Canavan on their mother, anyone who knew Nigel would have known how much he loved his mother. On May 16th last, a jury convicted Nigel Canavan of murder, rejecting his claim that he was provoked and defending himself from an attack by his mother, whom he strangled and smothered to death in her own home. Nigel Canavan claimed that stab wounds to each of Ms Canavan's thighs, one of which tracked to 13.5cm in depth, were self-inflicted by his mother, who the trial heard had a "glittering career" as a psychotherapist before she fell into the grip of alcoholism. Advertisement Nigel Canavan also claimed that he had acted in self-defence when his mother, who had a brain injury from a fall four years before her death, attacked him by swinging her open hands at him and trying to kick him. Ireland Woman who died in Galway house fire was a death ro... Read More Taking the stand at his Central Criminal Court trial, Nigel Canavan further accused his mother of deliberately provoking him by calling him the "worst son in the world" and saying she wished she had never had him during a heated argument. The jury also rejected a suggestion by Nigel Canavan's defence that his mother's alleged insults so provoked him that he could be found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. A pathologist found that besides being strangled and smothered, Ms Canavan had suffered a laceration to the top of her head, bruises to her face, body, arms and legs and three broken ribs. Some injuries indicated she tried to defend herself from an attack, and bruises to her chest suggested she had been manhandled before her death. Nigel Canavan, with an address at Erris Gardens, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, had pleaded not guilty to his mother's murder at her home in St John's Terrace, Co Sligo on May 1st, 2023.
CTV News
30-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Saskatoon woman receives 18-year sentence after killing former boyfriend
Ryah Sorenson, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Adam Willett before Justice Richard Danyliuk. (Source: Ever Loved) A Saskatoon woman who admitted to killing her former boyfriend has been handed an 18-year sentence. Ryah Sorenson, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Adam Willett before Justice Richard Danyliuk. During Sorenson's sentencing hearing on Friday, Crown prosecutor Michael Pilon read a statement of facts into the record. Court heard that Sorenson and Willett dated for about 10 months and had a tumultuous relationship at times. On the evening of December 2, 2022, the two were drinking alcohol together at Willett's apartment when Sorenson attacked him in his bedroom, stabbing him 21 times. He left a trail of blood through the apartment and eventually died on the couch. Sorenson kissed Willett on the forehead and lips, then covered him with a blanket, the court heard. She took some pills that were on the coffee table and attempted suicide. The pills were later determined to be vitamins. She began vomiting and called 911, saying she had done something bad. Police arrived shortly after. She told police she didn't plan to kill Willett but wouldn't explain why she did it. Willett's nine-year-old daughter submitted one of the 13 victim impact statements. A family member read the child's statement on her behalf. Willett's daughter spoke about how she would never be able to give him a Father's Day card and how he wouldn't be there for major life events, like her graduation or wedding. Willett's mother, Linda Krieg, spoke about the 'horrific' phone calls she made to Willett's loved ones, informing them of his death. His father, Bryan Willett, spoke about how he bonded with his son over their shared love of music. Bryan said February 3, 1959 – when three American rock and roll musicians died in a plane crash – is often referred to as 'The Day the Music Died.' 'I was not born yet, but for me, the day the music died was December 2, 2022,' Bryan said. Willett's stepmother, Maureen Willett, spoke about the trauma of cleaning the crime scene, saying his apartment was worse than anything she had seen in a movie. Willett's ex-wife, Megan MacDonald, said he will be remembered as an amazing and kind person who was a source of joy and love. After the statements were read, Sorenson stood up and apologized. 'I'm really sorry for what I did,' she said. Court heard that Sorenson grew up in a home with domestic violence and alcohol abuse and spent some time in the foster care system. She was diagnosed with mental health conditions and a personality disorder and was described as having a naïve and childlike manner. She struggled with alcohol and crack cocaine addictions and became more violent under the influence, the court heard. Justice Danyliuk accepted the joint submission from the Crown and defense counsel, sentencing Sorenson to 18 years in a federal institution. With credit for time served in remand, Sorenson has 15 years left in her sentence. Danyliuk made a recommendation to the Correctional Service of Canada that Sorenson serve her time at the Regional Psychiatric Centre.
