“I vow that the eyes of justice, the eyes of this journalist, will not be shut again,“ Veronica said. “No hand can deter me from my battle for the truth."
Veronica
Guerin Biography
Early Personal Life
Veronica Guerin was born on July 5, 1958 in Artane Dublin. Veronica, nick-named
“Ronnie” grew up with five siblings, her father
Christopher and her mother Bernadette. Veronica was raised in a Catholic School,
where she enjoyed playing many sports including basketball, camogie (women’s
hurdling)
and her favorite, Irish football. Veronica studied at Trinity
College in Dublin. In college she studied accounting, following in her accountant father’s footsteps. Veronica later married Graham
Turley and together they had one son, Cathal.
Careers
Public Relations 1983-1990
After graduating from Trinity College, she worked as an accountant
at her father’s company. When her father died three years later, she
changed professions. In
1983 Veronica started a public relations firm, where she worked for about seven years.
Journalism 1990-1996
Veronica's journalism career is what she is most known for.
She first worked as a reporter for the Sunday Business Post
and the Sunday Tribune. As a reporter, her
background in accounting and public relations had a big impact on the way she
approached her stories and the mindset she had when finding information and
writing her articles. She had a knowledge of business and a very detailed mind
from accounting. This was the foundation for her craving of first hand
information. Many times she would go directly to the source of the story with little regard for her own personal safety. Because of this she built
many relationships with authorities on both sides, such as the Irish police and the criminals.
In about 1994 Veronica began to write for the Sunday Independent.
During this time she began to cover stories about criminals.
Once again, her background in accounting allowed her to be
intelligent about the illegal activity involved in these crimes. Because of her craving for first hand information, Veronica received many death threats and violence
against her. This violence included shots being fired into her home in October
1994, being shot in the leg at her home on January 30, 1995, and on
September 13, 1995 being attacked by a criminal she was investigating. Not
only was her life threatened, but her family's lives were as well.
In December of 1995 Veronica Guerin received the International Press Freedom
Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
It is difficult to find the actual articles that were written by Veronica because of the time
period they were written in and the technology that was used then. We did find one
of her last articles that she wrote for the Sunday independent , which was an interview with the wife
of Tony Felloni, a jailed Dublin drug baron.
Death
Veronica Guerin was murdered on June 26, 1996. Veronica had unknowingly been followed and while she was stopped at a
traffic light on the Naas Dual Carriageway Newlands Cross on the outskirts of
Dublin, she was shot six times. Veronica's murderers were Charles Bowden, Brian Meehan, Peter Mitchell and Seamus Ward, who were all members of John Gilligan’s
drug gang. Guerin was killed just two days before she was
scheduled to speak at the Freedom Forum[INSERT] about journalists. Her topic,
ironically, was “Dying to Tell the Story: Journalists at Risk”.
