This article is from page 15 of the 2008-11-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
SHARON Collins was a wonderful mother to her two sons, who have both been badly affected by the high-profiled case, according to her former husband.
Noel Collins took to the witness stand to give a character reference for the mother of his two sons.
He explained how they had got married in 1983, when Collins was just 19.
They had two sons together, Gary
(25) and David (22), but the marriage did not work out and they separated in 1989. They were annulled two years later.
He said that they endured a tough few years together.
“The eighties was a tough time for
most people, albeit something similar that is happening now. There was a recession. Things evolved over time. It didn’t work out. We got separated,’ said Noel Collins.
He said that while she was granted custody of their sons, she never re-
stricted his access to them. “I could have had access any time I wanted,’ he said.
“Sharon always has been a great mother to the boys, very supportive. She put the boys first,” he said.
He said that both sons have been mentally and physically affected by the event and both have now moved to live with him in Dublin. David had to take a very tough decision to leave his job in Ennis to move to Dublin during the summer.
“It has had a massive effect on my- self and on Sharon’s mother. She’s a shadow of her former self. She’s on God knows how much medication. She used to be the life and soul. She used to love to dance. She doesn’t go out any more,” he said.
Written character references were handed in to the court from the Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh, the Mayor of Ennis Councillor Pe- ter Considine, the deputy governor of Mountjoy women’s prison — who described her as a model prisoner — along with fromer friends of Collins.
Bishop Walsh said that while he did not want to interfere with the crimi- nal justice system, he did not believe that a lengthy prison sentence would be in line with the common good or would serve restorative justice.
He described Collins as an open, truthful and caring person and he was unable to make sense of the enormous event that had happened.