THE MOTHER OF a young woman shot dead in a nightclub in Limerick has revealed she has forgiven her daughter’s killer and prays daily for him.

Georgina O’Donnell, (20), was shot in the head on the dance floor of the Henry Cecil disco bar in 1998 by Mark Cronin, a father of three from Hyde Avenue, Limerick. At the time he was attempting to shoot his wife.

Speaking for the first time since her daughter’s murder, brave Vera O’Donnell, 65, said: “I pray he comes out of jail a better man.”

Speaking this Thursday morning as she prepared to go to mass O’Donnell said she will, as usual, pray for Cronin and his family.

“I will pray for him today…I often got masses said for him,” the mother of nine said.

In a remarkable show of strength and forgiveness, she added: “I feel myself, ‘who I am to judge him’.”

“We have to forgive, no matter what anyone does to us, we have to forgive them,” she said.

“We can’t expect to be forgiven ourselves if we don’t forgive – that’s my belief.”

“He has kids himself, and he lost all his kids because he wasn’t there for their rearing,” she added.

O’Donnell said she understood Cronin “didn’t set out” to kill her daughter.

“That makes a difference… If he went out to do it, I suppose I could be very bitter.”

Traumatised

Cronin was sentenced to life in jail in 2000.

During his trial evidence was heard he was pointing a handgun at his then-wife, Angela Collins, when he fired the weapon.

The court heard Georgina O’Donnell was killed in the crossfire when the bullet went straight through one of her eyes.

Vera O’Donnell’s son Jason, who was deeply traumatised by his sister’s death, died in tragic circumstances in September 2010.

Despite losing two of her children in horrendous circumstances, Vera said her faith has given her the strength to cope.

“That’s what keeps me going,” she said.

“I’ve gone to mass all my life, and my children were brought up with the rosary in the house.”

She said her seven other children will never forgive Cronin.

“They never got over Georgina’s death, and then, for Jason… (it was too much).”

“They do get very upset…They have good days and bad days.”

Ms O’Donnell admitted: “They literally got mad when I said to them to pray for (Cronin). They said, ‘are you joking?’, I said, ‘no’, that we have to pray for him.”

Flooding

Vera’s home was ruined last December when flood waters overwhelmed the house and drowned her beloved pet Chihuahua “Princess”, who had been a close companion over the years.

She said, despite the estimated €40,000 in damage caused to her home, nothing could be as bad as losing her daughter.

“It puts things into perspective,” she added.

Cronin is being prepared for final release and has been granted temporary release on several occasions recently.

“He should be out shortly. He was out for the Christmas,” O’Donnell said.

“If he’s going to be left out, he’s going to be left out, there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

She added: “I just hope he won’t ever hurt anybody again.”

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