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Clodagh’s mother Mary Coll and sister Jacqueline Connolly appeared on last night’s Claire Byrne Live to tell their story.
They are calling for a new and full inquiry into the murders of Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan Hawe, to find out why Alan Hawe did what he did.
It is also hoped that further information may help to protect other women who may be vulnerable and in danger.
Four weeks ago, Mary and Jacqueline were officially refused their legal request for copies of the garda files from the investigation.
They are calling on Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to set up a special investigation unit for familicide and family annihilation.
"There was no initial support, I remember the Monday, myself and Mam trying to contact people and there was nobody there. There was no initial person with us on the day to say, you know, 'this has happened' and to take time, or anything like that," said Jacqueline.
"We were seeing things online, we were ringing our family liaison officer at one point to say 'please tell me he didn't kill her with an axe'. So it was the media that was informing us more so than anybody else initially."
They want all information gathered in the course of an investigation to be shared as soon as possible with the next of kin.
"Two weeks before the inquest we got a copy of his letter, which was 16 months after it happened," said Jacqueline.
"Having to wait over a year, as we did, to have sight of the complete murder/suicide letter is wrong on so many levels."
They propose that immediately after the conclusion of an inquest, in the case of a familicide and family annihilation, that a book of evidence is published and that Tusla, The Child and Family Agency, be responsible for independently monitoring all such cases and maintaining research on familicide perpetrators.
The family is calling on Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to amend the Succession Act 1965, as the act currently makes the perpetrator, or if deceased, their family, a beneficiary of the estate.
"Reading the letter it would seem that he killed Clodagh first and he sat and he wrote five pages about how he felt, and how the truth was going to come out eventually and he reassured us that if it was any consolation that they were happy.
"And he then killed the boys and he came downstairs then and he wrote some more. And then he transferred money, and he went about his business while his family were dead around him, and he set out folders and wrote notes," said Jacqueline.
"At about 2.30am that morning, he transferred about €2,500 from the joint account to his own account, so at that point he was a criminal and then he was fraudulently transferring money," added Clodagh’s sister.
The family wants a review of the Coroner's Act and laws surrounding exhumations, as currently the family of the perpetrator - and not the family of the victims - control all decisions.
"The next day after the funeral, we went to the graves and the horror of what we'd done, the stupor in our trauma, we had buried him with them. We were initially told it would be no problem to have him moved but then we realised that the exhumation could not happen unless Alan Hawe’s next of kin applied for him to be moved. So we asked the Hawe family to move him. Eventually, they allowed it to happen," said Jacqueline.
The family is also calling on the State authorities and agencies, the public and the media, not to automatically assume that a man who murders his partner and children perpetrated such a crime because they were mentally ill.
They believe the murders were premeditated and meticulously planned, and that it is wrong to suggest they can be explained away as a violent, murderous act caused by depression.
They feel it is wrong for society to see mothers and children being murdered by their partner and father, and conclude it happens solely because of mental illness.
"I wanted to shout from the rooftops, that's not the truth, that's not what happened. We've been controlled since this happened by our decency, our sense of decency. It's not easy to sit and talk about this, but we just feel that people need to be aware of the truth and that is the truth. We just need answers to the questions," said Mary.
Jacqueline added: "He said in his letter 'if it's any consolation, we were happy'. Clodagh was happy, the boys were happy, 'we were happy'. It's very rare that you would hear someone suffering from depression say that they were happy. Alan Hawe was attending his GP for five years and she didn't diagnose him with depression."
Mary said: "He never missed time from work, he was never sick. He had a position of responsibility. He showed no signs of depression, he was out, GAA, football, out and about."
The Claire Byrne Live special was titled 'Her Name Is Clodagh', after a social media campaign following the tragedy that aimed to shift the public focus away from the perpetrator and make people aware of the victims.
Her mother remembered Clodagh as "a beautiful child", "always mature for her age" and never "demanding".
The morning that the Hawes were discovered dead, Clodagh's mother described how she knew something was wrong. The five-mile drive to their home was "the longest journey I ever drove", she said.
They later discovered the nature of the murders during the inquest. "That is evil. That is not depression. That is force brutality and it is control," said Mary.
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