MOTHER'S HEARTACHE 3 YEARS AFTER BLAST
Mother's heartache 3 years after blast
Donna Maria lives every day with the pain of her son's death
By Ashleigh Wallace
THE people of Omagh were today preparing for a special service to mark the third anniversary of the Omagh bombing.
The service, due to be held at the Garden of Remembrance at Drumragh Avenue at lpm tomorrow, will include an interdenominational service as well as readings by young people who have been bereaved and injured. Wreaths will also be laid by families of the 29 people and unborn twins who were killed on August 15, 1998.
Meanwhile, the mother of one of the youngest victims of the Omagh bomb has revealed she prays to her son's angel each night.
Donna Maria Barker lost her 12-year old son James in the Real IRA bomb blast which claimed the lives of 29 innocent people three years ago.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the bomb, the grieving mother said she is not afraid of dying as she knows in death she will be reunited with her son. And she said all she wants is justice for the little boy with the "dancing, green eyes and the lovely smile".
Donna Maria and her husband Victor travelled from their Surrey home to Omagh at the weekend to join other victims' families.
Three years on, no-one has been charged with the worst single atrocity in the bloody history of the Troubles.
Last Friday the families issued a writ in Belfast High Court in an attempt to sue the Real IRA murders.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mrs Barker says she will not rest until her son's killers are brought to book.
"I want them to suffer the way I do, and will until my dying day," she said.
"At night I always wake. I say one prayer to James angel. I say, 'Protect your brother and sisters and your mamma and daddy.
"Then I finish by saying, 'One night nearer to seeing you'."
In a bitter twist of irony, Donna Maria and her four children moved from England to Buncrana in Donegal just one year before the bomb.
She wanted to bring them up in the safety and peace of rural Ireland, where she was raised.
On August 15, 1998, James and a group of friends from Spain on an exchange trip went on a coach trip to the Ulster American Folk Park. And fatefully, the party made an impromptu shopping trip to Omagh. It wasn't until later that night that the Barkers realised their son had been caught up in the bomb blast. She described seeing her son lying in the leisure centre, which acted as a makeshift morgue for the victims, the morning after the blast. She recalled: "His face was blood-stained and terribly bruised.
"We learned later that he had not died instantly. The force of the blast had blown him onto a roof.
"He had died on the operating table as the doctors tried to save him." She now keeps a lock of her son's hair - singed by the bomb - in a locket around her neck. James was originally buried in Buncrana, close to the graves of dead IRA men.
Last year the Barkers exhumed their son's coffin. James is now buried in a cemetery in the grounds of the school he attended in England before moving to Donegal. Mrs Barker added: "People say to me, 'You must move on', but why should I?
"I don't mind the hurting and the sleepless nights. They keep James close to me."
Donna Maria lives every day with the pain of her son's death
By Ashleigh Wallace
THE people of Omagh were today preparing for a special service to mark the third anniversary of the Omagh bombing.
The service, due to be held at the Garden of Remembrance at Drumragh Avenue at lpm tomorrow, will include an interdenominational service as well as readings by young people who have been bereaved and injured. Wreaths will also be laid by families of the 29 people and unborn twins who were killed on August 15, 1998.
Meanwhile, the mother of one of the youngest victims of the Omagh bomb has revealed she prays to her son's angel each night.
Donna Maria Barker lost her 12-year old son James in the Real IRA bomb blast which claimed the lives of 29 innocent people three years ago.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the bomb, the grieving mother said she is not afraid of dying as she knows in death she will be reunited with her son. And she said all she wants is justice for the little boy with the "dancing, green eyes and the lovely smile".
Donna Maria and her husband Victor travelled from their Surrey home to Omagh at the weekend to join other victims' families.
Three years on, no-one has been charged with the worst single atrocity in the bloody history of the Troubles.
Last Friday the families issued a writ in Belfast High Court in an attempt to sue the Real IRA murders.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mrs Barker says she will not rest until her son's killers are brought to book.
"I want them to suffer the way I do, and will until my dying day," she said.
"At night I always wake. I say one prayer to James angel. I say, 'Protect your brother and sisters and your mamma and daddy.
"Then I finish by saying, 'One night nearer to seeing you'."
In a bitter twist of irony, Donna Maria and her four children moved from England to Buncrana in Donegal just one year before the bomb.
She wanted to bring them up in the safety and peace of rural Ireland, where she was raised.
On August 15, 1998, James and a group of friends from Spain on an exchange trip went on a coach trip to the Ulster American Folk Park. And fatefully, the party made an impromptu shopping trip to Omagh. It wasn't until later that night that the Barkers realised their son had been caught up in the bomb blast. She described seeing her son lying in the leisure centre, which acted as a makeshift morgue for the victims, the morning after the blast. She recalled: "His face was blood-stained and terribly bruised.
"We learned later that he had not died instantly. The force of the blast had blown him onto a roof.
"He had died on the operating table as the doctors tried to save him." She now keeps a lock of her son's hair - singed by the bomb - in a locket around her neck. James was originally buried in Buncrana, close to the graves of dead IRA men.
Last year the Barkers exhumed their son's coffin. James is now buried in a cemetery in the grounds of the school he attended in England before moving to Donegal. Mrs Barker added: "People say to me, 'You must move on', but why should I?
"I don't mind the hurting and the sleepless nights. They keep James close to me."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0779
Published Date: 14-Aug-01
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