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Daily Mail
May 26, 2014
A Chicago man convicted in the savage beating of a Northern Irish exchange student, which left her unable to walk or speak, was sentenced to 90 years in prison today.
Minutes before Heriberto Viramontes learned his fate Thursday, a prosecutor displayed the bat used to assault exchange student Natasha McShane and her friend Stacy Jurich as they walked home on a spring evening.
The 2010 attack left McShane with severe brain damage.
The Chicago Sun-Times cites Judge Jorge Alonso saying at Thursday’s hearing that hatred and greed motivated the 34-year-old Viramontes.
Earlier, Ms Jurich said the evening of the attack had gone from one of joy to her suddenly being on her knees, dripping with blood.
‘Their only sin was thinking it was safe to walk four or five blocks in the city of Chicago,’ Judge Alonso said of the two victims, according to Chicago Tribune.
Before the sentencing, the court heard from McShane’s mother, Sheila, who had traveled from Northern Ireland for the occasion. Stacy Jurich also offered her impact statement, and the attacker’s family were given a chance to speak as well.
Calling Viramontes ‘a cowardly, evil being,’ Jurich revealed that she still suffers seizures and cannot drive or ride a bike.
‘I wish the sounds of the bat breaking my head open would go away, but they never will,’ she said from the witness stand.
Sheila McShane said her daughter requires around-the-clock care, has speech and physical therapy sessions five days a week and cannot say more than four words at a time. She relies on a picture book featuring images of different objects to communicate.
‘She is still alive, but it feels as if we lost her and that’s a scar that will never heal,’ said Mrs McShane. ‘As Natasha’s parents, we feel as if we are rearing our 27-year-old daughter all over again.’
She added, ‘One thing is for certain: Natasha will have a life sentence of her own. A life sentence of pain, misery and unfulfillment,’ reported NBC Chicago.
When given a chance to say a few words, the defendant expressed hope that his sentencing would start a ‘healing process’ for the victims and their loved ones.
‘I could never understand the pain that [they] have experienced,’ he said.
The 35-year-old criminal kept his head bowed for most of the proceedings, but broke down in tears when his sister took the stand talking about their tough family history, and she insisted that her brother was ‘not a monster.’
Assistant State’s Attorney John Maher argued for a 120-year sentence, telling Judge Alonso that Viramontes ‘literally turned Natasha McShane into a ghost.’
Mr Viramontes will serve 85 per cent of the sentence, which amounts to about 77 years, behind bars.
In the early morning hours of April 23, 2010, Jurich and McShane were walking home in the Bucktown section of Chicago after a night out when a man savagely bludgeoned them as they passed under a viaduct.
Miss Jurich needed more than 15 stitches in the back of her head, lost some of her vision and suffers from tremors. Her 23-year-old friend, Miss McShane, was left unable to walk or talk.
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