A double murderer has brought High Court proceedings seeking to overturn a “grossly disproportionate” decision that effectively bans him from living in his family home where he murdered his wife 22 years ago.
Declan Power was convicted in 2003 at the Central Criminal Court after pleading guilty to murdering Joan Power (40) and publican Maurice Curran (48), with whom he suspected his wife was having an affair.
He and Ms Power had three children, as did Mr Curran, who ran The Decies Bar in Clashmore, Co Waterford.
Power (then 47), a mechanic, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the March 2002 murders and secured temporary release, on strict conditions, in April 2021.
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In his High Court case, he claims he is effectively barred from living in his family home by the Minister for Justice’s decision to prohibit him from travelling within 18km of Clashmore village for any purpose other than work. For his job he can travel within 6km of the village.
He says his home is about 7km from Clashmore, to which he has no need or wish to travel.
Before imprisonment, he says, he worked as a self-employed mechanic from the garage adjoining the family home in Bawnacomera, Ardmore, Co Waterford, which he built in 1981 and owns.
Since being released, he secured employment transporting cars to a vehicle testing centre in Cork and is currently living in an apartment on High Street, Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
He is asking the court for an order quashing the Minister for Justice’s decision of last June related to conditions on his parole. He also wants an early injunction, in advance of a trial of his case, restraining the Minister from taking any further steps to prevent him living at his family home.
He alleges the Minister’s decision is “grossly disproportionate” to the point of being unfair, contrary to law and a disproportionate interference with his constitutional rights. He claims the “arbitrary limit” on distance to Clashmore was imposed unreasonably and irrationally, particularly where noncompliance would cause him to breach the terms of his conditional release.
He also alleges breaches of his rights to liberty, fair trial, private life and his home under the European Convention on Human Rights.
His judicial review case was mentioned before the High Court on Tuesday and was adjourned to next month. The court has not yet heard the Minister’s response to his claims.
The Central Criminal Court heard in 2003 that Power murdered his wife in their home by striking her with a rubber mallet and then stabbing her to death with a kitchen knife.
He then went to the nearby village of Clashmore where he confronted Mr Curran outside his pub and later shot him in the chest and head, fatally wounding him.
A superintendent told the court that Power gave himself up to gardaí following the murders and described himself as “suspicious, jealous and possessive of his wife”.
Ms Power was a former employee at Mr Curran’s bar.
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