The State has finally been able to “lift the shadow” from the two Kerry men who were wrongfully convicted and hanged for murder more than 140 years ago, the President has said.
Michael D Higgins was speaking at a small ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin on Wednesday afternoon before he signed posthumous presidential pardons for Sylvester Poff and James Barrett, the two men who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death 142 years ago.
“While we may not be able to undo the hanging of these two men who were innocent, we can actually lift the shadow.” said the President, adding that granting a presidential pardon to the men would “at least set the record straight”.
He was joined by the families of both men, including Poff’s great-grandsons, 89-year-old Tomo Burke and his cousin Mike Sugrue. “We’re elated, we thought we’d be dead and buried before this whole thing ever came, but the day has arrived and we are over the moon,” said Mr Burke, speaking outside the front portico of the Áras in advance of the ceremony.
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He recalled how his grandmother, “a very quiet, timid woman” struggled to speak about the death of her father, who was executed in Tralee Gaol on January 23rd, 1882. “She’d say ‘just let the dead rest, it was a very sore time in my life’,” recalled her grandson.
“We’re just sorry our parents can’t be here with us today, they suffered a lot more than what we suffered with the misjustice that was done at the time,” added Mr Sugrue.
“In those days things happened that the locals, the normal people, they had no control over it. The State can learn that where there is a question of injustice, that they should dig into it and absolve the people involved and give their families time to relax and rest about it.”
Poff and Barrett were hanged for the murder of Kerry landlord Thomas Browne, who was killed while working in one of his fields in Dromulton near Scartaglin in October 1882. Poff, who was 38 at the time, and his first cousin Barrett, aged 24, were convicted on the evidence of a single witness who changed her story man times. The men were tried twice before special juries in Cork after the jury in the first trial failed to reach an agreement on the verdict.
Earlier this year, the Government agreed to recommend posthumous presidential pardons for both men following an independent external review of the case, led by Dr Niamh Howlin from UCD’s Sutherland School of Law. Volunteers from the CastleIsland Heritage Centre have also worked tirelessly on the case for years.
“It was a complete miscarriage of justice,” said Johnnie Roche, chair of the Castleisland District Heritage Centre who also attended Wednesday’s event. “After years of going through all the different motions it had to go through, this is the climax today for us. We have finally got the pardons.”
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