Close to 13 years ago her son’s Eoghan and Ruairí were murdered by their father in Ballintubber, Co Mayo
Nearly 13 years ago, Ms Chada’s children, Eoghan (10) and Ruairí (5) were murdered by their father after he stole money from a local community group in Carlow. Sanjeev Chada ran up debts gambling on the stock market and used €56,000 from community funds to fuel his habit.
Ms Chada said his fraud was uncovered 10 days before the boys were killed and initially she thought they would be able to repay the debt. Mr Chada drove his car across a busy road in Co Mayo, but he survived the collision in which his two son were killed.
Yesterday Ms Chada made a submission to the Parole Board, which will make a decision over the coming months on Sanjeev Chada’s application for parole.
In July 2013, he killed the boys at Skehanagh Lower in Ballintubber, Co Mayo, and their bodies were found in the boot of his car, which he had crashed near Westport.
Sanjeev Chada pleaded guilty in court and was handed two life sentences to run concurrently.
Speaking on Today with David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1, Ms Chada said: “It just seems wrong that at this stage he’s in the process of applying, and I’m reasonably certain that he won’t get parole, but I can’t be absolutely certain.
“In the very early days I would have assumed that he would have simply done his time.”
Ms Chada said she, in the lead-up to the meeting with the board, had to face triggering details of her children’s murders, but she felt heard during the process.
Kathleen Chada with a photograph of her sons Eoghan and Ruairí. Photo: Dylan Vaughan.
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“I spoke on two things, number one, what he did and how he did it; it wasn’t enough for them to just know what he did. They needed to know how he did it. They needed to know because he pled guilty and none of the details are out there. So I needed them to know what he’s capable of.
“And then secondly, I know from correspondence that he had left behind, that I came across, that he intended to kill me as well.”
She said that if Sanjeev is released, he would have to stay within the State.
“My biggest fear is that he’s simply going to finish the job; that’s the bottom line. I know I’m safe, but I won’t feel that if he is released.”
Funeral director Edmond Kearney also made a submission to the board, whose son Edmond was friends with Owen.
As part of the deliberation on Sanjeev’s parole, Sanjeev is entitled to read Ms Chada’s submission, but she is not allowed to read his.
“I have no rights,” she said.
“How can I make a meaningful submission when I don’t know what’s going on in his mind?”
She also said that Sanjeev began thinking about murdering his family a year and a half before he killed Eoghan and Ruairí.
“What he was capable of was so hidden, and we were a normal family. He had the ability to hide so much inside of himself.
“I know, based on emails that he himself wrote, that his intention was to take my life as well as the boys and that intention was there about a year and a half before he actually did what he did. So he lived with me, he slept next to me every night, knowing that somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted to kill me.”
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