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The Sun
By STEPHEN BREEN
Published: 01st August 2013
Devastated Melissa McCarthy, 33, slammed junkie Keith Hall, 24, after he got 20 years for the teen’s brutal slaying.
The monster sat with his head bowed as one of the State’s longest ever sentences for manslaughter was delivered at a packed Central Criminal Court yesterday.
The stunned Dublin court heard how the hood was high on a cocktail of crack cocaine, cannabis and anti-depressants when Melanie, 16, was blasted in the head.
Melanie was shot at point-blank range with a double-barrel shotgun as she sat in a car with fiance Christy Moran, 21, in Tallaght, Dublin, on February 7, in 2012.
Hall was not the triggerman but was part of the gang who carried out the attack. He helped dispose of the gun.
Speaking yesterday, Melanie’s mum told of her relief over the sentence.
Melissa said: “Our Barbie can rest now — thank you God. I’d like to thank the judge. We got justice for our beautiful daughter but we never expected that scumbag to be jailed for 20 years.”
Judge Paul Carney hit out at the killer after handing down the huge sentence.
He said: “This was an outrageous crime and is clearly at the higher end of the manslaughter scale.”
Hall, who had 111 previous convictions, admitted his involvement in the killing in a series of interviews with detectives.
During yesterday’s proceedings, the court heard how Hall claimed he was “disgusted” over the shooting.
But his pathetic apology was slammed by Melanie’s godmother Jennifer Roche, 30.
The Limerick woman read a statement to the court on behalf of Melanie’s mum and her dad Stephen. It read: “I miss everything about her — she hadn’t a bad bone in her body. His apology means absolutely nothing to us.”
The sicko, who started taking heroin when he was 14, was caught after gardai received a tip-off he was staying at an apartment in Athy, Co Kildare.
The pad was raided by the elite ERU before the psycho, who was identified on CCTV, was taken back to the capital for questioning. His previous convictions include theft, burglary, possession of knives and joyriding.
Judge Carney also revealed he would write to Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan praising the officers who nailed the thug. The high-level probe was led by Det Supt Brain Sutton, Det Insp John Walsh, Det Sgt Mary Fitzpatrick, Det Sgt Tom McManus and Sgt Paul Smyth. Afterwards Det Supt Sutton also praised the local community for assisting gardai. The senior officer said: “We had great co-operation from the people of Tallaght.”
stephen.breen@the-sun.ie