THE “HEARTBROKEN” MOTHER of a man who was stabbed to death by the partner of the woman he was sleeping with in a fatal “love triangle” has said “the worst part” is that her son died alone and “had no one with him that cared about him”.

“It kills me that I had no time with him to tell him how much I loved him and what he meant to me and to comfort and console him in his last breath. He died alone and I literally cannot imagine what he went through,” Valarie McKeever told the Central Criminal Court in a victim impact statement today.

She called her son Graham “a hero” as he was “protecting someone” and said “if only he had never gone to that apartment he would still be alive”. McKeever stated that her son was “too decent to leave someone in trouble” and that is why he is now dead.

McKeever said she “crumbled” to the ground, unable to stand as her legs “went to jelly” when she heard the news of her eldest child’s death. “My Graham gone, I just couldn’t comprehend it,” she said.

The testimony was heard as part of a victim impact statement read by Graham McKeever’s mother, Valarie McKeever, during Keith Connorton’s sentence hearing today.

‘Self defence’

Connorton (40) was found guilty of murdering Graham McKeever (32) at Deerpark Avenue, Tallaght on 18 February 2017 by a majority verdict of 10 to two last month.

Connorton had pleaded not guilty to stabbing his love rival to death after he came home to find him sleeping with his partner.

During the trial the jury heard that Connorton was living with his long-term partner Claire McGrath at Deerpark Avenue but after an argument she invited McKeever to spend the night with her.

When Connorton returned home at 4am he found the two of them together and a fight broke out that resulted in Graham McKeever suffering four stab wounds including one that penetrated his heart and killed him.

The Central Criminal Court has heard that Connorton and McGrath have since reconciled and have rekindled their relationship.

The defendant said he acted in self-defence after Mr McKeever punched him, breaking his eye socket, and then came at him with a knife.

‘Just lost’ without his dad

Before sentencing Valarie McKeever told the court that 18 February 2017 is a day that will “haunt” her for the rest of her life.

“How do you put into words the impact and effect of losing your first-born child, how do you explain the utter devastation in being woken up on a Saturday morning by detectives banging the front door down to tell you your son has died and then to tell you the way he died,” she explained.

She said she remembered her son as a “funny and loving person with a great sense of humour” who left an impact on anyone who knew him. Graham’s son was the “light of his life”, she said, whom he loved with “every fibre of his body”.

They had such “a great relationship” and now his son is “just lost without” his dad and no one can replace him, the court heard.

The mother-of-three said her heart hurts everyday with grief and trauma. “It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child but to lose your child the way my Graham was taken is just unbearable. I can see him in my mind fighting for his life,” she said.

‘Very best friend in the world’

Danielle McKeever, Graham’s sister, also entered the witness box during Connorton’s sentence hearing this morning to deliver a second victim impact statement on behalf of her family.

Danielle said Graham was her big brother, her protector and her “very first friend in the world”. The very moment that I learned of Graham’s tragic death was the moment that separated her life into “a before and after”, the court heard.

She told the court that since Graham’s death she has been “submerged” into “the depths of a physical and emotional pain” that she never knew existed before and could never have understood.

Danielle said she was 17,000 miles away from home in Australia when she got the “dreaded phone call” and had to make the “gruelling journey alone”. “27 hours of having to exchange niceties with flight attendants and members of the public when inside the despair and heartbreak was flooding my body,” she explained.

Lorcan Staines SC, defence counsel for Connorton, told the court that his client wanted to apologise to the McKeever family. Connorton took the stand and said: “I can never take back what happened, I’m very sorry for that. I never meant for any of this to happen, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Earlier, Sergeant Ciaran Coyne from Coolock Garda Station told the court that Connorton has 41 previous convictions including misuse of drugs, robbery and dangerous driving. Sergeant Coyne said the defendant had a “rough past” with drugs and lived the majority of his life in homeless accommodation in the city.

‘Shocking tragedy’

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it was a “shocking tragedy” but the defendant had to be punished in the same way as people that set out to cause harm.

“It is correct to say that no one makes the case that anyone set out on this night to cause the mayhem from this brief but incredibly tragic event,” he said.

The worst fear of a parent or sibling is to lose a child or brother or sister prematurely, the judge explained, adding that if it happens through natural causes one can perhaps come to terms with it in some way.

However, when death comes “”suddenly and violently” it changes everyone’s world “utterly and immediately”, he said.

The judge stated that Graham McKeever’s young son has to be considered and he had no doubt that the family would pull together to mitigate the “horrendous effects” of this crime on them. He wished them well in their future attempts to deal with this “horrendous situation”.

In conclusion, Mr Justice Hunt said this was also a tragedy for Connorton but of a “much less variety” and if the defendant had a “shred of sympathy” he would carry some of this with him.

The defendant has limited opportunities in his life although he faces a mandatory life sentence, he added.

Mr Justice Hunt then sentenced Connorton to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder. The sentence was backdated to 11 September 2017, when he went into custody.

Connorton hung his head as he was led away by prison officers.