'Disgraceful' sentence for Eamonn Magee Jr killer

The mother of a promising young boxer who was stabbed to death by his girlfriend's jealous estranged husband, has said he should spend the rest of his days in jail.

Speaking exclusively to UTV, Mary Magee described her son Eamonn’s killer as an "animal" and blasted the sentence handed down to him "disgraceful".

Last Friday, a court told Orhan Koca he would serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.

The 34-year-old Turkish barman initially denied the young boxer's murder, but admitted what he had done as the trial was about to begin.

“I’ve been robbed of so much - the guy has given us a life sentence," Mary Magee said.

His grieving mother added: “We’ve been robbed of everything from Eamonn - his professional career, graduating from university, maybe he would have been married, had children - he’s just robbed all of this.”

Eamonn was only 22 and was a talented boxer who, outside the ring, would do anything for anyone.

But in May 2015, he was stabbed to death outside his girlfriend's home in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast.

Koca, armed with a knife, lay in wait for the right time to catch the young student at his most vulnerable.

The court was told Koca was driven by jealousy because the young student was dating his former wife.

Mary Magee was woken by a knock on the door, but her son would lose his fight for life a short time later in hospital.

“He’s a pure animal,” she said of Koca, adding: “I try not to think about him. He has taken our son’s life and left us with a life sentence.”

When passing sentence in court last Friday, the judge said he took a number of factors into consideration.

He said Eamonn's murder was pre-planned - and the only mitigating factor was that Koca pleaded guilty.

But that is not how Eamonn's loved ones see it. They feel his admission - on the day the trial was due to begin - was simply too little too late.

And because they feel badly let down by the system, the family are appealing the sentence.

Mary Magee said: “I’m absolutely disgusted by it, I’m raging at the legal system - they need to send out a message that knife crime is not acceptable in this country.

“Fourteen years is nothing - what could my son have been in fourteen years?

“He could have had his own wee life, a house, a wife, children - but it has all been completely taken away from him.”