THE family of a Limerick teenager who was bludgeoned to death with an axe 18 years ago today (November 22) made a fresh appeal for information to help catch his killer.
Jeffrey Hannan was murdered by a man at a bonfire near his home on November 22, 2007.
The innocent 19 year old, who had no links to crime, sustained at least 10 blows to his head and sustained kicks to his body while he lay on the ground, an autopsy found.
His body was dragged across a green patch and dumped near a wall close to his home at O’Malley Park in Southill.
Several others witnessed the attack and are suspected of aiding the killer – however nobody has ever been charged.
Speaking on the anniversary of his death, Jeffrey’s father Alan (62) and daughter Nikita (19) appealed for those with information to contact Gardaí.
“It hurts every day. As a 19-year-old girl, the same age as my dad was when he was killed, everything I have watched growing up has hurt me,” Nikita told this reporter.
“Every night I go to sleep and I dream about him up at his grave. I have nightmares, imagining my father, a young man, being killed, wondering about his last moments.
“If I was one of them (witnesses) that was around him on the night he got murdered, and heard his screams and his last words, that would haunt me and I would hand myself in.”
Nikita said that “everybody knows who did it, the dogs on the street know exactly what happened to my dad”.
“My dad’s life did not deserve to be taken like that, he wasn’t involved with gangs or the wrong people. He had an opportunity to make a life for himself and he wasn’t given that chance.”
Nikita said her father’s murder led her to feeling “suicidal”.
“It’s been hard to live with, horrible, but I won’t stop talking about my father and trying to get him justice,” she pledged.
“One day those involved are going to break, and my father will be served justice. My dad is not going to be forgotten about.”
Jeffrey’s father Alan said the family have had “no justice for Jeffrey. I went to the Gardai so many times over the years and nothing has happened.”
“It is 18 years, it’s about time people came forward and helped us.”
Mr Hannan has repeatedly asked Gardaí for an independent “cold case review” but this has not happened.
The case was reviewed by local Gardaí. who said they could not bring it forward.
“I want Gardaí from outside Limerick to take a look at my son’s case,” Mr Hannan said.
“The impact on us is horrendous, people say time heals, but it gets harder the longer it goes on. If we got justice it would be some weight off my shoulder knowing they are locked up.
“Apparently in today’s world you can go out and murder someone and nothing is done about it.”
Paying tribute to his son, Mr Hannan said: “Jeffrey was nice to everyone, very quiet, never bothered anyone, he always had a smile on his face.”
“When I identified his body, I went into shock, I just couldn’t believe it was Jeffrey.”
The family are also haunted by an investigation into claims that a Garda withheld information for a number of months from Gardaí investigating Jeffrey’s killing.
A finding was made against the Garda arising out of an internal disciplinary hearing, however the Garda in question, who denied the claim, retired while appealing the finding, and was, therefore, no longer subject to the Garda disciplinary process.
A letter previously sent to Alan Hannan by Fiosru, then the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), stated that despite the finding against the Garda in question, they could not progress matters.
Gardaí said they do not comment on internal disciplinary matters. They said the Hannan murder investigation remains an “open” and “live” inquiry.
They asked anyone with information to contact Roxboro Road Garda Station on 061 214 340, the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.