Nicola's dad: Kindness of strangers left us speechless

Andrew Furlong has paid tribute to the support shown to his family since their daughter Nicola was murdered on May 24 last year.

Nicola's dad: Kindness of strangers left us speechless

Andrew Furlong has paid tribute to the support shown to his family since their daughter Nicola was murdered on May 24 last year.

He said the kindness of strangers in Ireland and Japan had left the family speechless.

He recalled one occasion in Tokyo in particular. "We went for a meal, and this fella came up to us wearing an Irish shirt and he said 'If you are who I think you are, that meal is paid for.'

"A complete stranger...He wouldn’t give his second name, he wanted no fuss. It's things like that that help you. It's not going to clear it, but it's going to help you feel that there is so much more good in the world."

The man who murdered Nicola, Richard Hinds, was found guilty today of her murder in a hotel room in Tokyo and sentenced to five-to-10-years in jail, with labour.

Hinds stood silently as he was found guilty of strangling Nicola in what the presiding judge called a “vicious” attack.

Hinds and another American were accused of taking 21-year-old Miss Furlong and one of her friends to the hotel after they had passed out in a bar.

Tokyo District Court ruled that Hinds strangled Miss Furlong when she regained consciousness to keep her quiet.

Andrew Furlong said after the verdict that Nicola's name had finally been cleared, and that the sentence was the best the family could have hoped for under Japanese law.

He said the judge dismissed the evidence given by the defence.

"Everything they said, the judge just threw it out and said there was no substance to what he said, and to what the defence claimed," he said.

"Nicola's name was cleared and I hope all her friends and family who knew her and all the people who didn't know her in Ireland and wherever, that they know for definite that Nicola had no act or part (in what happened to her).

"She went out for a night, and came home in a box."

He added he never wanted to hear Richard Hinds' name again.

[comment]Background to the case.[/comment]

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