THE family of a North Belfast teenager stabbed to death in a sectarian attack say "time never heals the pain" 30 years on.
John Molloy (18) was murdered on the Lansdowne Road while walking back to his parents’ home on Taunton Avenue on August 10, 1996. No one has been held accountable for John’s murder.
On the 30th anniversary of John Molloy’s murder, his parents Linda and Pat issued a fresh appeal for information.
They said there is not a day that passes that they do not think of John and their grief has not eased with time.
His father Pat said: "John had been out with friends that night. He was not in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was where he was meant to be minutes from his home in North Belfast.
"A taxi driver passed what he thought was a drunk man lying across the pavement into the road.
"He also saw a group of young men and women laughing and dancing down Landsdowne Road.
"He turned back and found John. He held him as he died.
"For whatever reason the taxi driver has never been interviewed by the police.
"No one has been held accountable for John’s murder.
“We think about John in the morning when we wake and last thing at night before we sleep.
"I’ve heard people say time heals. Maybe it does for some but not for us. There is no healing.
"Of course we get on with our lives. We won’t let the people who murdered John destroy us as well but what happened to John never leaves us."
Pat is convinced that there are people within the community who have information about the events of that night, and that includes the police.
“We brought all our children up to trust the police to help you if you needed help," he added. "Well 30 years ago and still today we need help to get justice for John. Who is going to deliver it?"
Both Pat and Linda Molloy have had a long association with WAVE Trauma Centre. Linda works with WAVE, first as an outreach worker, and now as a complementary therapist.
CEO of WAVE, Dr Sandra Peake, said: “Pat and Linda’s story is heartbreaking but sadly not unique.
"There are too many families who have had to live for years without getting any answers.
"There needs to be a process that can address these cases and one in which victims and survivors can have confidence that they will get the thorough investigation that they have been denied so far.
"Whether or not the current legacy legislation going through Parliament will do that remains to be seen but what is clear is that a fair and comprehensive process to address legacy issues must hear and listen to victims and survivors like Pat and Linda Molloy”.
