Damien Conlon and Linda Simon. Simon's father killed Conlon in cold blood. Photo / GoFundMe
The court saw CCTV footage that showed Simon visiting his gun safe several times on the day before the murder, to which he has pleaded guilty.
Linda Simon told the court her father’s actions were “senseless and violent”, saying he could not face her fiance “like a man and have a conversation with him like a human being”.
“Luke, I believe you are a coward,” she wrote in a victim impact statement.
“You only had one intention in mind when you lured him into your home and that was that Damien would not be alive after he entered your house.”
She implored the judge to hand down a stiff sentence so that the family would not have to “live in fear of Luke walking the streets”.
The couple had two children together and Conlon was a stepfather to two boys from Linda Simon’s previous relationship.
Linda told the Irish Mirror the pair were due to be married at the end of 2023.
“We had deposits paid on the venue, the church and everything, but unfortunately that will never be,” she said.
“That is the hardest part, all the plans we had for the future and watching our children grow up without him. We just take it day by day now, that is all we can do.”
Conlon’s injuries were so severe that his family were robbed of the chance to have an open-casket funeral, but Linda Simon said there were still “memories of happiness and joy when we remember the good times”.
She said one of her sons still walked around the house looking for him.
