THE father of murdered Melbourne woman Jill Meagher is struggling with health problems and facing financial ruin as he deals with the pain of his loss.
George McKeon is suffering a host of health problems including recently being diagnosed with an incurable brain condition.
He also faces a $270,000 penalty if he does not obey a US court order and attend a hearing in Ireland next week in connection with a civil lawsuit, but his condition prevents him flying.
“My health is bad, I’ve had one, two, three strokes and I have a brain disease that doesn’t have a great effect. Jill has died,” Mr McKeon told the Ten Network.
Mr McKeon says his health and financial troubles add to the stress of losing his daughter at the hands of killer Adrian Ernest Bayley, who is serving life in prison with a 35-year minimum sentence.
“When I was face-to-face with him … then he became afraid,” he said, of watching Bayley being sentenced in June.
Mr McKeon says Ms Meagher leaves behind a legacy of changes to the law to address failures in the justice system and a change in society’s attitude towards violence.
“That is of great comfort to me,” he said.
His wife Edith McKeon says photos are all they have left.
“I can’t cry any more tears – I’m cried out,” she said.
“We’ve lost our daughter to the most horrendous, horrendous death.
“We succeeded in putting it (Bayley) away.”
Mrs McKeon says she and her husband have been robbed of grandchildren.
“We won’t have the life that we should’ve had with her,” she said.
“She always had that lovely, lovely smile.
“What you see was what you got with her.”
Ms Meagher, 29, was raped and murdered in September last year in a case that gripped Melbourne.
She had been walking home from an inner-city Brunswick bar when she was attacked and buried in a shallow grave. – AAP
