'It was six long years before I alerted the authorities to what had happened. During that time, I lived each day in fear of my mother, and of what would happen if I told. I became a shadow of my former self...my mental health suffered so badly that I even lost my own children. The day I told the truth was the second most frightening day of my life. But I did it. This is my story.' Witness to Evil tells the story of how an innocent young girl had her life turned upside down by a tyrannical and abusive mother, who planned and executed the murder of her husband without emotion and with no regrets. Here Veronica McGrath speaks out for the first time about growing up in the home run under the strict control of Vera McGrath, and about the horrendous night when she witnessed the brutal killing of her father by her mother and her own fiance Colin Pinder. She tells of how her mother made her swear never to reveal the dark family secret, threatening to sign her into a psychiatric unit if she even thought of alerting the police. Veronica also describes her life with her beloved dad, Bernard, whose loss in her life was the end of the only stability she knew.
And she gives a detailed account of the court case in 2010, where she was chief prosecution witness, that led to her mother being sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, and her former partner being convicted of manslaughter. Witness to Evil is Veronica's brave account of a fraught yet extraordinary personal journey and a hard-won fight to win justice for her father.
- ISBN10 1444724452
- ISBN13 9781444724455
- Publish Date 3 December 2012 (first published 20 May 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country IE
- Imprint Hachette Books Ireland
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 256
- Language English