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THE FAMILY OF Karen Buckley have called their daughter’s killer an evil, cowardly, vicious criminal.
In a statement read outside Glasgow High Court today, John Buckley said he hopes his daughter’s murderer spends the rest of his life behind bars.
Buckley, his wife Marian and their three sons all attended a hearing today where Alexander Pacteau pleaded guilty to the murder of their 24-year-old daughter and sister Karen on 12 April this year.
The court heard a devastating narrative of the last hour she spent alive, and how her killer went about trying to cover up his crime for the next four days.
The family thanked Scottish police for finding justice for Karen, and for making the city a safer place for women.
They described a happy, loving 24-year-old who spent the last hour of her life facing a cold-blooded, cowardly murderer.
This is the Buckley’s full statement, as read by John, outside court this afternoon:
Marian and I, together with our family, would like to thank everybody here in Glasgow and back in Ireland, that have helped us cope with this terrible tragedy. We are very grateful for the support and messages of sympathy received and for the people who keep us in their thoughts and prayers.
“We thank the Scottish police for their professionalism in the search for Karen, and in bringing her killer to justice. Their personal support and kindness throughout our nightmare ordeal, keeping us informed and travelling over to Karen’s funeral is greatly appreciated.
“We also like to thank our own Garda force for all the help with Karen’s removal and funeral and in conjunction with Glasgow High Court for keeping us informed with all aspects of this case.
Coming back to Glasgow where our beautiful daughter / sister was brutally murdered, is incredible difficult for all of us.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare as we know now, when we got that phone call, Karen was missing in Glasgow and her phone had gone dead. We went over, waited, hoped, and prayed day and night for her safe return, only to be told she had been murdered.
“We were devastated.
“Having to phone our three sons and give them the dreadful news before they heard it on the media was one of the hardest things we ever had to do. Kieran and Damien were on route from Sydney. It took several hours throughout the night to make contact with them. Brendan was at home.
I dread to think of them trying to deal with the shock and horror of being told that their only sister had been brutally murdered.
“When Karen’s body was released a week later, we went back to Glasgow as a family and brought her to our home in Mourneabbey. That was a very special night as we were all together again under the one roof where Karen and her three brothers had grown up.
“Two days later after the funeral mass, our three sons and I lowered Karen’s coffin into her grave, her final resting place.
What a waste of a young life. It all seemed unreal. All Karen was doing was making her way home when she was randomly targeted and murdered by a cowardly vicious criminal.
“No words of ours can do justice to our feelings towards him. He is truly evil and we hope that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Our hearts are broken at the thought of Karen’s final moments on this world. The thought of her being alone, frightened and struggling for her life haunts us. The panic and fear she experienced as she fought for her very survival but she had no chance against that coward.
“The last face she saw and the last voice she heard was of that cold blooded cowardly murderer, who calmly set about trying to dispose of her body so she would never be found. Only for the swift action of the police and the people of Glasgow we were able to find Karen and bring her home and give her a dignified burial.
“Not only did he rob Karen of her precious life and future but he robbed us of our beautiful daughter/sister. He also robbed us of Karen in death as we never got to see her, hold her or kiss her goodbye.
It’s too late now for Karen but in the future we hope Glasgow will be a safer place for women to walk in, which is their right and to not have this evil murderer to fear.
“Karen was a normal 24-year-old girl very kind, always smiling, always happy, the youngest of four, our only daughter, and our baby. Just like her brothers she was so genuine so caring she loved life.
“As a fully qualified nurse she especially liked helping older people. She loved Glasgow and the Caledonia University where she studied Occupational Therapy. Like many young people, Karen loved to travel, she made lots of friends and thoroughly enjoyed her life.
“We will never see Karen again in this life. Never see her smiling face, hear her laugh and hear her voice. There are no words to describe our loss. We know even though she is gone from this life, she is still very close to us. She will always be in our broken hearts wherever we go. We talk to her, pray to her and we know that she will help us. Though Karen will never come back, we only hope someday to be with her.
“One word has come up so many times and Marian has said it again and again. Karen is our Little Angel and she is right. She is not suffering now, she is in her new home in heaven. We miss her terribly.”
Originally published: 14.45
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47! Wow I didn’t realise it was that many. RIP all very brave men
Most people don’t. ….but will quiet happily post comments slagging off or putting down our Defence Forces.
Good to hear.
In fairness though the Lebanese government only has delicate control of the country, don’t have a monopoly on military power and in a country of 4 million they have a million refugees.
Very difficult for them to resolve the issue.
..I would love to see our own president do more for the DF, he is rarely seen promoting the service & I’m almost pretty sure he hasn’t yet visited any of our troops overseas since his inauguration..
David the SLA was controlled and directed by Israel, they also killed thousands of Lebanese citizens, so I have no doubt the Lebanese government is serious about doing everything in their power to assist the Irish government.
About time …it was a case of shoot any Irish soldier they could get there hands on.
…it was a case of shoot any Irish soldier they could get there hands on.”
Such is the nature of war.
One of the chief suspects was arrested in us a few months ago where he was working as an icecream man after claiming asylum. Never heard what happened to him after though
He was allowed to immigrate to the USA because he was a member of the SLA, an Israeli controlled Paramilitary. The US authorities knew where he was all along but where reluctant to act because of his connection with Israel. He was deported back to Lebanon recently because of a campaign by Irish army veterans who managed to embarrass the US government in the media.
Boganity Brazzi is still being held in he US and has been for a number of months while they wait for the final part of the deportation process to complete. Minister Coveney met with Lebanese government to gain assurance that once he is deported back they will take action against him.
Proud to have marched with my comrades for this fight for justice.
Apologies, I thought they had already deported him. That March on the US embassy sent a powerful message, marching up in formation and standing to attention in front of the embassy in complete silence, was so different to the usual rowdy demonstrations that US embassy’s are used to meant it stood out and would have been noticed at the highest levels in Washington.
Our boys and girls are at serious risk due to Iran having armed Hizbullah to the teeth with long and short range missiles which are in tunnels right under where the UN has positioned our troops. Perhaps Mr Coveney could persuade his Lebanese counterparts to disarm these terrorists or else take our people out of the unnecessary danger they have been put in.
Such an evolved hu-man race that still use war and weapons to kill others.
Behind both sides is the unseen hand which few people know of.
There’s no conspiracy in war, war is just a testament to the brilliance of nature and it’s process of natural selection. It’s natures way of ensuring the hairless-monkey sitting at the top of the food chain has a predator. Nature has deemed that, in the absence of any other predator, the hairless-monkey is its own predator. These brave Irish soldiers risking their lives on UN peace keeping missions are part of the process of rising above that.
Uncle Mort just curious…how much are Mossad paying their internet trolls these days ?
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