Boyfriend is suing the BBC. He didn't hold back on what he thinks of immigrants like the killer
Keoghan Z Catherine On Thursday, Ashling’s longterm boyfriend Ryan Casey filed a High Court defamation case against the British broadcaster BBC.
According to the Irish Independent, Ryan’s legal action relates to criticisms that were made of his victim-impact statement in court last November.
Ashling Murphy, Ryan Casey
Before sentencing, Ryan made an emotional victim-impact statement to the court outlining his love for Ashling and their plans to build a house, get married and have children together.
He said: “It just doesn’t make any sense to me how somebody who is just so insignificant, worthless, lowest of the low, burden to society and overall, a waste of life, can completely and permanently destroy so many people’s lives by taking the life of a person who is the complete opposite – a life with meaning, a life with dreams, a life of love and compassion, respect; a person who contributed to society in the best ways possible.”
“It just sickens me to the core that someone can come to this country, be fully supported in terms of social housing, social welfare, and free medical care for over 10 years – over 10 years – never hold down a legitimate job and never once contribute to society in any way shape or form [and] can commit such a horrendous, evil act of incomprehensible violence on such a beautiful, loving and talented person who in fact, worked for the State, educating the next generation and represented everything that is good about Irish society.”
Ashling Murphy, Ryan Casey
“I feel like this country is no longer the country that Ashling and I grew up in and has officially lost its innocence when a crime of this magnitude can be perpetrated in broad daylight. This country needs to wake up; this time things have got to change.”
“We have to, once and for all, start putting the safety of not only Irish people but everybody in this country who works hard, pays taxes, raises families and overall contributes to society, first.
“We don’t want to see any other family in this country go through what we have gone through and are continuing to go through.”
These aspects of Ryan’s victim-impact statement were criticised on BBC Northern Ireland programme The View last November.
Host Mark Carruthers interviewed Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland who said elements of the media were right not to report Ryan’s full comments as they were “not helpful”.
Kitty said that while she understood that he was heartbroken and devastated, the far right had “latched onto” the comments but were ignoring all the cases of violence perpetrated on women by white, Irish men.
