Sharon Whelan had no voice during Brian Hennessy's trial for murdering her and her little girls, Zara and Nadia, early on Christmas morning 2008. Her family had to listen to Hennessy's attempts to ruin her reputation, as if killing her weren't enough.

John, her eldest brother, could barely tolerate it. Yes, two consecutive life sentences for murder meant that Hennessy lost his liberty but "... that loss doesn't even come close to the losses his actions have inflicted on this family," he said in measured, dignified tones. "Christmas for us is no more. It does not exist."

The Whelans forgive Brian Hennessy's family, John told the court and Morning Ireland's Aine Lawlor, despite Brian's rampage through Sharon's home in Windgap, Co Kilkenny, which devastated their family life.

But they won't forget. This very loving family lived to be together. John wondered how he'd get through family occasions now, watching his two sons playing with their other cousins when Zara (7) and Nadia (2) weren't there. His anguish for his parents, visiting the grave twice-daily, was heart-breaking.

The Whelans are a blended family. Parents Christy and Nancy had two young sons, John and Paul, when they decided to "take in", as John put it, siblings Sharon, David and Linda. The love around Sharon and her girls glowed through incidents in their family life, with Christy dropping Zara to school and Nancy minding them all on many afternoons.

Christmas 2008 was especially important because Nadia had just been diagnosed with autism, a cruel condition but perhaps offering some answer to what must have been a very worrying infancy, demanding much of Sharon. She must have worked hard to get an expert diagnosis so soon. Sharon rose to the challenge with a masterplan to make that Christmas extra special.

Presents were hidden in Christy and Nancy's home nearby, with Grandad booked to drop them down when the girls finally fell asleep.

Picture Sharon playing with her little family as Zara listens excitedly for Santa's sleigh and tries to encourage Nadia to join the game. Hear her whispering down the phone -- 'not yet!'

Sharon called Christy three times before giving him the all-clear. She must have tip-toed down to her gate to meet him, in case the girls woke up. Christy saw her for the last time at about 10.45pm, although they both thought they'd see each other on Christmas morning, like every other Christmas.

Hennessy, meanwhile, was drinking, first with friends, then with family. He told gardai he decided to go looking for 'sex'. He hardly knew Sharon, but local knowledge and a brief acquaintance with her sister suggests he realised she had her hands full and was the sole adult in her home.

Anyway, young mothers are always exhausted on Christmas Eve and weakened because of it.

This predatory behaviour mirrors part of the Adam Keane case, where single mother Mary Shannon was targeted and raped her with her children nearby. Keane sneered at her after receiving a suspended sentence and was imprisoned only after she went public and said so. At least Mary is alive.

Hennessy admitted eventually to murder. But he denied rape, even inventing a sickly romantic fantasy, designed to show his sensitivity, claiming he had 'quiet' sex with Sharon in her daughters' room while they slept. He alleged that she threatened to tell so he strangled her in case his girlfriend found out. The fire-setting was a panic reaction, he claimed. The prosecution said that he raped and killed her, then set the fire to cover up.

His fantasy isn't supported by the evidence. The skin around Sharon's eyes was flecked with pin-point blood haemorrhages, her neck bruised and a bone in it broken. Her face, legs and knees were badly bruised, as were her vaginal and anal areas. She was strangled; Zara and Nadia died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation. Hennessy slept through the early morning discovery of Sharon's still-smouldering home. Neighbours called her family and the emergency services.

"I'll never forget that phone call from my mother and father to say that the lads were gone," John said, "and then to go from believing it was some kind of tragic accident maybe to do with Christmas tree lights to hearing the gardai were investigating, that there were suspicious circumstances."

Brian Hennessy wept while John spoke in court. You might wonder for whom he was really sorry. His assault on Sharon's image, after her death, tried to use prejudices about single mothers by insinuating she was easy, neglectful of her children's moral welfare and a harridan when scorned. If you follow that lie, he was her victim and couldn't find any other way out. How can a victim impact statement correct such toxic claims? John said Sharon was a wonderful mother to her little girls. Judge Barry White told Hennessy that he'd "deprived two young girls of the excitement of finding what Santa had left them" and deprived Sharon of "witnessing that joy".

Life as they knew it came to an end for the Whelans last Christmas. "We know Brian Hennessy has a long time to be haunted by what he's done," John said. "All we can hope is that he serves every day of his sentence because God knows, we'll serve every day of ours."

Irish Independent