Valerie’s Law will mean the ‘rights of the child are respected’, the brother of murdered mother, Valerie French, has said. 

Today, Cabinet will discuss legislation that will strip guardianship rights from a mother or father who kills their child’s other parent. 

The legislation has been called Valerie’s Law, in honour of Ms French, who was murdered by her husband, James Kilroy, in 2019. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Ms French’s brother, David, said the law would have made a significant difference to him and his three nephews. 

“That conversation around the future of Valerie's children would have had well-meaning, good faith people who hadn't killed someone in the room,” he explained. 

“Because, you know, Kilroy had not been convicted in June 2019 - that was in July 2024. 

“He would still have been in the room as the guardian and Valerie's Law wouldn't have kicked in until after the verdict. 

“But less weight would have been put on his opinion and his input because of the strong prospect of him losing his guardianship later on.”

Mr French continued that once passed, the legislation will allow a court to make a decision about guardianship that is the “best interest of the children”. 

“It gives courts more powers, it doesn't make anything automatic - there's always discretion, there's always edge cases,” he said. 

“You always need to take the complete view and this allows the courts to do the right thing, the family law courts to do the right thing in these situations.”

Mr French added that if a child wants to continue having contact with a parent after their conviction, this legislation will not stop them. 

“The whole concept of contact between the father and the child or the child and the mother, if that's a good thing for the child, then yes, totally do that,” he urged. 

“The thing is that the power needs to be with the child and the rights of the child need to be respected; it's not that the killer can reach out from prison and force something to happen.

“Contact is completely different from guardianship; this is a right for the killer to reach in, get your school reports, decide if you can get a passport, do a whole lot of interfering things in your life.”

Main image: Valerie French. 30th July 2024. Image: Supplied.