THE sister of murdered Drongan teenager Michelle Stewart has vowed to keep fighting for justice in her name - after her killer's latest parole bid was pushed back.
Michelle's life was taken in 2008 by John Wilson when she was aged just 17.
Sister Lisa said that her late sibling gives the family the strength to continue their fight.
Following Michelle's death, the family set up Michelle's Law, which aims to provide more support to the relatives of victims.
“It’s exhausting because we need to fight for everything," Lisa said.
"At the forefront of everything is Michelle, she really keeps me going.
“She gives me the strength and energy to keep fighting because she’s not here to do it for herself, and I don’t feel justice got served initially.
“For every year he’s refused, it’s just another wee bit of justice for Michelle."
John Wilson, who also goes by the name 'Sanken', was handed a life sentence and told he would have to serve 12 years behind bars before being considered for parole.
This week, he was due to have his fifth parole hearing for release, but a decision was deferred for more information to be gathered.
Every time a hearing comes around, Lisa says it builds up the anxiety of the full family.
She said: “We’ve been told that the parole board is requesting more information, which says to me that there must be some doubt there about releasing him.
“I’m expecting a summary of minutes for the hearing to see what’s actually been discussed, but that can take up to three weeks to come through.
“In my opinion, if there’s any doubt then they should be refusing it.
“It’s really frustrating because we get really anxious in the lead up to it and on that day we’re just sitting waiting on a phone call to hear the outcome.
“Everything is going through our heads, like is all of this with the overcrowding in prisons going to have an effect on the outcome.
“I know that the justice minister has said that prisoners like him aren’t eligible for this early release scheme, but it’s just something else we worry about."
Part of Michelle's Law's success in the past has meant that families receive documents from parole hearing decisions.
According to the family, part of the reason for Wilson being refused parole in the past was due to him being a "substantial risk" to other members of the public.
Lisa is proud of the work that has been done in her sister's honour so far, but admits a lot more needs to be done.
She added: “In the lead up to the hearings we get asked really personal questions like 'how did it affect us' and 'how it continues to affect us', so we’re having to go through that every time.
“He’s entitled to access of all of that, so we’ve got to put in a request that him and his representatives cannot access that.
“Because it’s not fair that he could get access to that, but we’re given very vague summaries.
“So there’s still a lot of things that need changed going forward and it always seems to be a fight for the victims.
“Things can’t have changed that much from the last hearing in March until now when he was saying that he didn’t have any remorse for what he did to Michelle."
No new date has been set for the next hearing.
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