A Fianna Fáil TD is supporting appeals from the families of two women who vanished in Co Kildare, who is calling for more resources in the Serious Crime Review Team.
Relatives of Jo Jo Dullard, missing for 21 years, and Deirdre Jacob, who vanished outside her home, 18 years ago, are calling for additional Garda resources to assist finding their loved ones. They are being supported in their calls for resources by Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness.
Devastated father of Newbridge teenager, Deirdre Jacob, says ‘time does not heal.’
With International Missing Persons Day this Tuesday, Michael Jacob is concerned that the Special Crime Review Team (SCRT), set up in 2007, to find people missing for a long period of time, is lacking vital resources. On December 7, at the National Missing Persons Day in Farmleigh, Mr Jacob intends to raise the lack of resources with Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan.
According to Mr Jacob, there are only two Senior Gardaí managing the SCRT, with a team assisting them, that could be asked to work elsewhere on other business at any time.
Mr Jacob said: “I think there is a need for a dedicated group, without interruption. Over the years, we have had a very good working relationship with the Gardaí and continue to do so. I will always respect their effort but we know that they are working with meagre resources.”
On July 28, 1998, Ms Jacob who was 18 - years-old left her home at about noon and walked into Newbridge to visit her grandmother. She then went to the AIB in Newbridge to get a bank draft to pay for student accommodation in St Mary’s College, Twickenham, where she was training to be a teacher.
She went from the bank, to the post office and returned back to her grandmother before setting out on the walk back home. It takes about twenty five minutes to walk to her house from Newbridge. She was last seen at approximately 3.30pm at the gateway to her house in Roseberry, Newbridge. She did not however make it to the doorway of her house and there have been no sightings of her since this.
Mr Jacob is at a loss to understand what happened his daughter. He said: "There were no complications in her life. Everything was running smoothly, her studies were going according to plan. It is on our mind all the time, sometimes it hits in a severe way. It is not just birthdays or at Christmas, it is everyday that she is missing. Time does not heal at all. We are reminded all the time."
The Serious Crime Review completed Ms Jacob’s case and handed it to Kildare Garda Division earlier this year. At the time, Kildare-based Garda Supt Martin Walker said investigators remain at a loss: “Nothing new is jumping out at us.”
The Newbridge Lions Club are behind a new poster campaign to appeal for information.
Meanwhile, sister of Jo Jo Dullard, Kathleen Bergin, is calling for the Serious Crime Review Team to look at her sister’s case.
Jo Jo Dullard was 21 years of age at the time of her disappearance. She made a phonecall from a phonebox in Moone Co Kildare, on November 9, 1995. A short time later a woman answering Jo Jo's description was seen leaning in the back door of a dark coloured Toyota Carina type car. There were further sightings of a woman similar to Jo Jo in Castledermot, Co. Kildare at around mid -night. The driver or occupants of this Toyota Carina type car have never been traced. That was the last that anyone has heard from her. When she never reached her destination, her family became concerned and reported her missing to the Gardai.
She was last seen wearing black jeans, a black jacket, white top and black shoes.
Ms Bergin, along with Deputy McGuinness, are planning to meet with members of the Serious Crime Team, in the New Year, to try and organise a renewed examination of the case.
Ms Bergin said: “It is not right, there needs to be more resources. Not a day goes by that we do not think of Jo Jo. We want to have her back, finding Jo Jo is very important to us. “
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