The family of a Garda murdered in Roscommon 3 years ago have described the trauma faced by his loved ones in the aftermath of his death.
Stephen Silver was sentenced this morning to a minimum of 40 years in prison for the Capital Murder of Detective Colm Horkan in Castlerea three years ago.Four victim impact statements from the family and friends of Colm Horkan were read out to the court this morning along with a letter of apology from Stephen Silver.
Colm Horkan was shot eleven times with his own weapon on the 17th of June 2020 in Castlerea following a scuffle with Stephen Silver.
In his statement, read by the prosecution, Colm Horkan's father Marty spoke of his pride in his son, and his devastation at his loss.
He described the loss as one not just to his family but to the countless people Colm could have gone on to help in the future.
His sister Deirdre stated that there could be no hope of forgiveness from the family for Silver and she hoped he'd remember that as the cell doors closed each night.She described her brother as acting like a second father to her and how Covid had robbed the family of a chance for a fitting send off.She finished her statement with the words 'if I new this was going to happen, I never would have loved him so much', describing the pain of his loss.
Futher statements from Detective Horkan's brother and cousin described the wonderful friend he had been and the hole that had been left in their lives.Before sentencing, the defense read out a brief letter of apology to the Horkan family from Mr Silver, which described his sincere regret at loss of the Charlestown Garda and how his mental illness caused the actions that saw Colm shot that night.
