OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN RUINED BY BOMB ATROCITY
Our lives have been ruined by bomb atrocity'
Omagh relatives tell of their harrowing grief
BY LESLEY-ANNE HENRY
lhenry@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
GRIEVING relatives of Omagh bomb victims wept in court yesterday as they recalled how their lives had been ripped apart.
During a second day of harrowing evidence, the families of Aiden Gallagher (21) and Lorraine Wilson (15) took the stand at Belfast High Court to give accounts of family life before and after August 15, 1998.
Among those in the witness box was the wife of Michael Gallagher who, as chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, has become one of the most outspoken and well known Omagh family members.
Patricia Gallagher told how her husband had changed from a placid family man who rarely drank to someone who took "fits of temper" and turned to alcohol as a means of coping.
Under questioning from Brett Lockhartt QC, the families' barrister, Mrs Gallagher said: "He never drank before very much, maybe at a wedding or something. At the beginning he wasn't too bad.
"Then he was on tablets but he'd go into fits of temper. He stopped taking them. Then he turned to alcohol."
Mrs Gallagher suggested that the quest for justice had consumed her husband.
"He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now. He's very aggressive, very bad tempered - he doesn't sleep well. He thinks he's our boss - he demands things.
"He lives on the internet and on that mobile phone. Even driving to Belfast we have to pull in every 10 minutes."
She also told how her daughter Cathy almost had a nervous breakdown and had to be treated in a psychiatric unit to help deal with her loss.
In his evidence, Michael Gallagher said: "My relationship with Aiden was very, very close. Aiden was my only son. We both shared the same interests, we were both into the same thing - anything mechanical whether it was boats, planes or trains."
Mr Gallagher said his life now was in stark contrast to his existence prior to Aiden's death.
"That day certainly changed me and probably everybody else that had any serious involvement in it. Really, before the bomb, if anybody had pointed a camera at me I would have run in the opposite direction. We were very private."
Mr Gallagher, whose brother was shot dead by the Provisional IRA, described his son as a "decent, honourable human being who had a lot to give to society."
Cathy Gallagher broke down in the witness box. She said living in Omagh had become intolerable because of the publicity surrounding her family.
"Nobody wanted to be reminded of Omagh and because my family are outspoken, people just don't want to remember - I couldn't handle people looking at me and knowing who I was."
The Gallaghers are among six families suing Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna and Colm Murphy in an unprecedented civil suit. All five defendants deny any part in the mass murder.
Also taking the stand was Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Lorraine lost her life.
Mr Wilson told the court how he had to identify his daughter at a temporary morgue after hours of heartache and distress.
"She had head injuries, her face was full of shrapnel. Her right eye was missing and there was a tear in her left eye - I took out a tissue and I soaked it up and put in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her."
Fighting back tears, he said that at the depths of grief and despair he contemplated suicide while driving.
"I was on a country road driving like a lunatic hoping a tractor would come out in front of me to end it all. I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. Sleeping was terrible. I couldn't get the morgue out of my head. I had a continuous picture of Lorraine's face, the shrapnel and how her lovely long hair was blown off."
Mr Wilson disclosed how his son Gary, who lost his sister and girlfriend in the bombing, was equally driven to despair.
On one night he told the court how he had tried to take his life in the garage and then tried to run to a nearby river.
"It was so bad every time he came home from town with a bottle my wife had to go out because Gary would be thumping his head against the wall shouting he wanted to die," Mr Wilson said. His daughter Denise also tried suicide.
GODFREY WILSON His testimony:
- "There was a tear in her left eye. I took out a tissue and I soaked it up and put it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I've left of her"
- "I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. I must have cried for three months"
- "I was on a country road driving like a lunatic hoping a tractor would come out in front of me and end it all"
MICHAEL GALLAGHER What his wife said:
- "He was on tablets but he'd go into fits of temper. He stopped taking them. Then he turned to alcohol"
- "He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now. He's very aggressive, very bad tempered. He doesn't sleep well"
- "Our home has never been normal since the bomb"
Omagh relatives tell of their harrowing grief
BY LESLEY-ANNE HENRY
lhenry@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
GRIEVING relatives of Omagh bomb victims wept in court yesterday as they recalled how their lives had been ripped apart.
During a second day of harrowing evidence, the families of Aiden Gallagher (21) and Lorraine Wilson (15) took the stand at Belfast High Court to give accounts of family life before and after August 15, 1998.
Among those in the witness box was the wife of Michael Gallagher who, as chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, has become one of the most outspoken and well known Omagh family members.
Patricia Gallagher told how her husband had changed from a placid family man who rarely drank to someone who took "fits of temper" and turned to alcohol as a means of coping.
Under questioning from Brett Lockhartt QC, the families' barrister, Mrs Gallagher said: "He never drank before very much, maybe at a wedding or something. At the beginning he wasn't too bad.
"Then he was on tablets but he'd go into fits of temper. He stopped taking them. Then he turned to alcohol."
Mrs Gallagher suggested that the quest for justice had consumed her husband.
"He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now. He's very aggressive, very bad tempered - he doesn't sleep well. He thinks he's our boss - he demands things.
"He lives on the internet and on that mobile phone. Even driving to Belfast we have to pull in every 10 minutes."
She also told how her daughter Cathy almost had a nervous breakdown and had to be treated in a psychiatric unit to help deal with her loss.
In his evidence, Michael Gallagher said: "My relationship with Aiden was very, very close. Aiden was my only son. We both shared the same interests, we were both into the same thing - anything mechanical whether it was boats, planes or trains."
Mr Gallagher said his life now was in stark contrast to his existence prior to Aiden's death.
"That day certainly changed me and probably everybody else that had any serious involvement in it. Really, before the bomb, if anybody had pointed a camera at me I would have run in the opposite direction. We were very private."
Mr Gallagher, whose brother was shot dead by the Provisional IRA, described his son as a "decent, honourable human being who had a lot to give to society."
Cathy Gallagher broke down in the witness box. She said living in Omagh had become intolerable because of the publicity surrounding her family.
"Nobody wanted to be reminded of Omagh and because my family are outspoken, people just don't want to remember - I couldn't handle people looking at me and knowing who I was."
The Gallaghers are among six families suing Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna and Colm Murphy in an unprecedented civil suit. All five defendants deny any part in the mass murder.
Also taking the stand was Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Lorraine lost her life.
Mr Wilson told the court how he had to identify his daughter at a temporary morgue after hours of heartache and distress.
"She had head injuries, her face was full of shrapnel. Her right eye was missing and there was a tear in her left eye - I took out a tissue and I soaked it up and put in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her."
Fighting back tears, he said that at the depths of grief and despair he contemplated suicide while driving.
"I was on a country road driving like a lunatic hoping a tractor would come out in front of me to end it all. I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. Sleeping was terrible. I couldn't get the morgue out of my head. I had a continuous picture of Lorraine's face, the shrapnel and how her lovely long hair was blown off."
Mr Wilson disclosed how his son Gary, who lost his sister and girlfriend in the bombing, was equally driven to despair.
On one night he told the court how he had tried to take his life in the garage and then tried to run to a nearby river.
"It was so bad every time he came home from town with a bottle my wife had to go out because Gary would be thumping his head against the wall shouting he wanted to die," Mr Wilson said. His daughter Denise also tried suicide.
GODFREY WILSON His testimony:
- "There was a tear in her left eye. I took out a tissue and I soaked it up and put it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I've left of her"
- "I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. I must have cried for three months"
- "I was on a country road driving like a lunatic hoping a tractor would come out in front of me and end it all"
MICHAEL GALLAGHER What his wife said:
- "He was on tablets but he'd go into fits of temper. He stopped taking them. Then he turned to alcohol"
- "He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now. He's very aggressive, very bad tempered. He doesn't sleep well"
- "Our home has never been normal since the bomb"
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1094
Published Date: 05-Jun-08
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