Unlikely trinity implore judge to show mercy
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A MARRIAGE licence and two stepsons stood between Sharon Collins and the €60m fortune she planned to inherit.
But nothing, it seems, stands in the way of the extraordinary love that PJ Howard holds for his former lover, sentenced last night to six years in prison for her part in a bungled, but persistent, attempt to kill the property tycoon and his offspring.
The Clare man's deliberate kiss for Collins during her seven-week trial was one of the most dramatic scenes in a sensational case.
So, too, was yesterday's dramatic 11th-hour appeal by Mr Howard to testify in Collins' defence, dramatically pleading for clemency and a non-custodial sentence, as his sons told of their horror at discovering they were the subjects of a contract to kill. As he took to the stand yesterday, Mr Howard railed that his sons Niall and Robert had been invited by gardai to make a victim impact statement and complained the same courtesy had not been extended to him.
Gardai insisted they had informed Mr Howard there would be an opportunity to describe the effect his lover's crime had had on his life.
In the end, it was only yesterday morning that the State was informed Mr Howard would submit a victim impact statement.
Influence
Most victims of crime, more usually the relatives of those who have been murdered or unlawfully killed, seek to deliver a victim impact statement in order to influence a sentence, but Mr Howard used his opportunity to address the court and tearfully beg Judge Roderick Murphy not to jail Ms Collins.
The volume of evidence against Collins was matched by the impressive pleas of mitigation tendered on her behalf yesterday.
An unlikely trinity of Mr Howard, Sharon's ex-husband, Noel Collins, and Bishop Willie Walsh, one of Ireland's most influential churchmen, implored Judge Murphy to show mercy. The assistant governor of Dochas, the women's prison, a jail chaplain, a former mayor and others all outlined to the court Collins' numerous attributes.
The prosecution argued for lengthy, consecutive sentences, making reference to a small handful of soliciting-to-murder cases that have come before our courts.
This roll call of support stood in stark contrast to the lack of support tendered on behalf of Essam Eid, who was also sentenced to six years for extortion, with concurrent sentences for handling stolen goods.
- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor
