'No justice for Aaron'

Aaron Montgomery was killed outside a Belfast nightclub while he enjoyed a night out with his brother and a friend.

The Moira man was killed with a single blow to the head in an unprovoked attack.

The blow was so severe it ruptured an artery in Aaron's neck and killed him almost instantly.

The 23-year-old's attacker, Belfast man Ciaran Brendan Laverty admitted to manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison last March.

The Montgomery family have been informed that Laverty is due to be released from prison early next month after serving one year of his sentence.

His father, Stephen said it was important to highlight problems in the local legal system.

He said: "It's about time our politicians got their act together and had a say in the administration of justice.

"Policing and justice powers look to be on the way and it can't come soon enough and give us and others hope justice might be done."

The length of Laverty’s jail term has been a great source of heartache for the Montgomery family.

Mr Montgomery went on: “From the very beginning, I said we were going to get justice for Aaron, but that hasn’t happened.

“Ciaran Laverty took a good man’s life, and now he’ll never pay for what he did.”

Following Laverty’s conviction, Mr Montgomery described the lack of remorse shown by his son’s killer.

“There was not one bit of regret on his face. Surely, if someone was truly remorseful for taking a life, they would be on their hands and knees begging for forgiveness,” he said.

An emotional Mr Montgomery also told of how he had been flanked by two police officers during the court case.

“I think they were frightened about me going for Ciaran, and I was tempted, I was very tempted but I wouldn’t let Aaron down.”

Mr Montgomery said that following Aaron’s death there will “always be something missing” from his family: “To be truthful, there are days when you just want to give up, but you can’t do that. You have to get on with things, but our family is just broken.

“I really don’t know where we’d be right now without our friends, family and our faith. If we didn’t have that I just don’t know.”

Aaron’s mother, Jacqueline, added: “If you lift your fist to someone, and hit them with that much force from behind, you’re looking to seriously hurt someone.

“It seems that when you die, you lose all rights. It seems the law is there for the guilty, not the victim.”

Mrs Montgomery said the family wanted to know when Laverty was released, rather than “meeting him on the street one day”, but added: “The politicians need to sort this out and change the law, it’s just not right. We hope some day we will have justice.”

Compounding their grief, the Montgomery family were forced to hold a second burial for their son, as his brain and part of his spine were held until after the court case for medical evidence.

A close family unit, the Montgomerys described how proud Aaron was of his younger brother Adam’s football talents, and said he was always looking out for his younger sister Rachel.

Mrs Montgomery said of the relationship between her two sons: “When you looked for one, the other was never far away. We never worried about them going out, because they always looked out for each other.”

Tragically, it was left to Adam to tell his parents that Aaron had been killed.

Mr Montgomery said of that life-changing phone call: “Adam just kept saying, ‘It’s bad daddy, it’s bad. You need to get down here.’ Jackie new straightaway he was gone.”

Of his family’s continuing grief, Mr Montgomery said: “People say they’re sorry, but they can’t know what it’s like. When Aaron died, a piece of me died with him.

“They say time’s a healer but that’s just not true. You never know when the grief will hit you.”

"Aaron was so sensible and responsible. When he graduated, we told him we were so proud of him, not just because of his degree, but because of the man he had become.

“He told us, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you mum and dad’. He was very proud of his family, the same way we were proud of him.”

To honour their son’s memory, the Montgomerys have channelled their grief into raising money for the children’s charity, Helping Hands.

“Aaron gave so much, he had such a big heart. Everyone loved him, even people who were a lot older could see what a good lad he was,” Mr Montgomery said.

Of where the family goes from here, Mr Montgomery said: “We have to get on with things, there is no choice. I know we’ll see him again someday, I really believe that.”