A 26-YEAR-OLD will serve 16 years of a life sentence for killing a father-of-four in his own home.
Mark Ward, of Drumellan Gardens, Craigavon in Co. Armagh, was found guilty of murdering Marcell Seeley, 34, in June this year.
He was sentenced on Tuesday (October 10), nearly two years on from death of Mr Seeley, who was known by his friends and family as Junior.
Mr Seeley, who was battling alcoholism at the time, was badly beaten and stamped on by Ward in a “brutal attack” at his home in Lurgan on October 11, 2015.
His body was found two days later, by his sister Carrai Doran.
“Every time I close my eyes I can see Junior lying on his floor and that’s something that will always be with me,” she said this week.
“Brothers and sisters are meant to grow old together, to help look after their parents, to watch their children grow up together,” she added.
Ward was convicted of Mr Seeley’s murder through DNA evidence found on a cigarette butt left at the scene, CTTV footage showing him walking near his home before the attack and footprints found at the scene.
Following sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan, from PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch, said: “This is a very sad case, and first and foremost today our sympathies go to Marcell’s children, parents, brothers and sisters, wider family and his friends, who continue to come to terms with his death.
“Marcell had been battling an addiction to alcohol at the time of his murder. After a three-month period of remaining sober, he had started drinking again two weeks prior to his killing following the death of his grandmother.”
He explained: “On the Sunday morning of October 11, 2015 Marcell, who was known locally as Junior, was at home in his flat in the Dingwell Park area of Lurgan, when Mark Ward has arrived and entered the flat, launching a vicious and sustained attack which killed him.”
He added: “The one place you should feel safe is your own home and that’s where Marcell was when Mark Ward brutally killed him. The attack was vicious during which Marcell’s ear was lacerated, his ribs were fractured and he sustained extensive bruising all over his body.”
One of Mr Seeley’s daughters also made a statement this week, claiming he was her “best friend” and that his death has had a “devastating effect” on her life.
“My Dad and I were so alike in so many ways,” she said.
“We loved all the same movies, had the same taste in music and loved all the same types of food.”
She added: “All that is gone now. All I have in its place are the memories of our life we shared and the bond we had. He has been stolen from me and all that’s left in his place is the suffocating reality that is his absence.”
