The father of Irish student Nicola Furlong has said in an RTE Radio interview that some of the implications made by the legal defense representing her alleged murderer has "maddened him."
Furlong, whose daughter was murdered in a Tokyo hotel room on May 24, has said it has been difficult listening to the team defending Richard Hinds as they try to blacken his daughter's character.
“At times, unreal – I can’t explain it…,” he said. “You’re there and it’s like watching a television programme… at times you think it has nothing to do with you… Then it comes back to you that you’re there because of Nicola."
Richard Hinds, 19, from Memphis Tennessee denies murdering the young woman and has told a friend he believes Nicola was "drunk and tripping" before her death.
Said Nicola's father: “It would make your blood, listening to the stuff coming out… what they were dressed in – that they were going out looking for men, looking for sex."
“It really maddens you… to hear it over and over and over and over again.”
Mr Furlong said Nicola went to Japan to further her education and learn Japanese – and that he had encouraged her to do so.
“I still sorta blame myself for kinda making her go out,” he said.
According to the Irish Independent, CCTV footage taken from the taxi and hotel shows that the Wexford student appears to have fallen unconscious for a period around three hours before she died.
She was later allegedly strangled in the Keio Plaza hotel room of Hinds.
Hinds is due to give evidence on Tuesday and Wednesday. A judgement is expected on the case on March 19 after evidence concludes later this week.
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