Son backs NY wife who killed her abusive ex-cop husband

Dublin lawyer examines family life of Barbara Sheehan as trial continues

KATE HICKEY,

IrishCentral.com Editor

Published Thursday, September 22, 2011, 6:35 PM

Updated Friday, September 23, 2011, 12:05 PM

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Raymond Sheehan testified at Queens Criminal Court

Photo by Robert Mecea

As Barbara Sheehan’s trial continues her son testifies over their unhappy family life, over the past two days. His mother is charged with murder having shot her husband, an ex-cop, 11 times following over a decade of alleged domestic abuse.

Speaking in court, on Wednesday, Raymond Sheehan Jr, now 21, spoke to Niall Mac Giollabhuí, a Dublin-born lawyer from the offices of Michael Dowd, about a home filled with tension and violence.

He said “I always saw bruises on my mother, whether it was on her arms, legs, and she had black eyes sometimes.

“He would tell her he would kill me and my sister and her father as well. She was always nervous, jumpy and jittery.”

Barbara Sheehan has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. Prosecutors say she shot her husband a retired New York Police Department sergeant using two of his guns. The 50-year-old school secretary claims it was in self-defense.

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Barbara Sheehan trial begins – accused of killing her husband, an Irish American cop - VIDEO

Sheehan Jr told the court how is father had once left the house in a rage. According to reports in the Nw York Post he phoned the house and said he would kill anyone he found still in the house. His mother locked Sheehan Jr and his sister Jennifer in a room.

“He came home. We just sat in the room and listened. I was scared for my life that night.”

Mac Giollabhuí asked the witness if he had happy memories of the home. Sheehan Jr replied “No. There was always tension, you always worried about doing something to set him off. Anything would set him off.”

The 21-year-old recalled being nine or ten-years-old and being berated by his father for losing a basketball game. His father was the coach. He told the court “My whole family was in the car. He said I was worthless and embarrassed him, and I would be nothing, just like my mom.”

On Thursday Sheehan Jr said he had decided to go to college in Conneticut because he feared that after years of abuse at the hands of his father he would kill himself if he stayed at home.

He said “I chose to go away because I seriously thought about suicide. I feared if I lived with my father ... I would do that,” according to AP.

For the Prosecution, Assistant District Attorney Debra Pomodore, showed Sheehan Jr a letter he had written at the age of 14. It was filled with rage towards his father as he believed he was having an affair. The letter included statements that the teenage boy wanted his father dead.

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merefalow | Sep 25, 2011, 06:52 AM EDT

i think the sons testimony should be listened to ,there is no excuse for hitting women,none.a home charged with threat and violence and fear is not a home,its an endurance,some women just go on taking it day in day out,out of fear and love for their children until one day they just snap,this case deserves to be treated with MERCY.

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AengusOg | Sep 23, 2011, 09:01 PM EDT

One's mind can be a most terrible prison. Barbara Sheehan may share responsibility for her situation. What was her husband like when the children were babies? Did she shoot him because the children had left home? She certainly ended the marriage too late to help the children.

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MegK311 | Sep 23, 2011, 07:12 PM EDT

My heart goes out to Barbara Sheehan and her children. I do not condone killing but we do not know what this family have suffered at the hands of this man. I will not judge her because I have not walked in her shoes.

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Rebelforce | Sep 23, 2011, 06:10 PM EDT

This is a tragic story, but Barbara Sheehan didn't live in some isolated backwater in Appalachia. She lived right smack in the heart of NYC where there are literally scores of organizations and resources waiting to help women in abusive relationships. Mrs. Sheehan chose to take the law into her own hands and be the judge, jury and executioner of her allegedly abusive husband. Unless we want to live in a society that rewards vigilante justice, Mrs. Sheehan needs to be convicted and punished for unlawfully killing another human being.

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bunkerisland | Sep 23, 2011, 04:31 PM EDT

It is a tragic story apparently of a man who had a reign of terror over his family and all the authority of a police officer to continue to intimidate, as well as verbally and physically abuse his wife and children. While most of us do not condone murder it would appear any of the children and wife could have been killed and they all lived through years of terrorizing. That any of them may have considered suicide is quite understandable. Only death could insure no more violence would occur from this bully. The charge could hardly be murder, maybe manslaughter. The survivors need assistance to work through the years of madness.

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