HIS MUM IS VERY STRONG
His mum is very strong. She can face up to it well but it's very sad'
THE tears in people's eyes said it all - raw emotion on their faces, emerging from a house blanketed in grief. All of Omagh and its surrounding areas are in mourning for the brave young officer whose life was callously taken on Saturday.
Atop Drumduff Hill, overlooking the family home of Constable Ronan Kerr (25) - killed when a bomb exploded under his car as he left for work - a tourist sign stands.
On it is a poem. The final line seemed to sum up the mood in the air yesterday as a steady procession of cars made their way back and forth to the yellow house down a quiet rural lane: "And the hearth of my people is broken and cold."
Of the hundreds who flocked to the family home in Beragh yesterday to pay their respects to the young recruit's family one summed it up: "It's the saddest house I have ever been to."
The country road was being marshalled by volunteers from the local community, directing traffic to a church car park, where two mini-buses brought visitors to and from the house.
Everyone who stepped off the buses seemed to carry a heavy burden on their shoulders.
Sandra, a nurse from Omagh, said the experience had been "absolutely devastating"!
To see a photo with six people in it and now there's two of those people missing, so needlessly and so callously," she said.
"It's so sad; I think that's the saddest house I've ever been to."
One theme coming from the visitors was the strength of Ronan's mother Nuala during this difficult time, coming just two years after the death of her husband from cancer.
"Nuala is very strong," said Pat, from Beragh. "She can face up to it well but it's very sad.
"It's hard to know what to say, everybody's shocked.
"Over the years when the thing was at its worst you would always imagine that you didn't know somebody, but when it's somebody you know it's that much worse. And you wouldn't expect it to happen here."
Another couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Kerr family were "amazingly strong".
"They are getting incredible support from members of the community here."
In Omagh town centre, the heavy rain didn't stop the steady stream of visitors into the Public Services Centre on High Street where a Book of Condolence has been opened. Messages of sympathy were written across its pages, heartfelt words from a town which knows too well the feeling of loss and damage caused by tragedy.
One note called Mr Kerr "a modern day Irish hero", another "a fine and upstanding young man".
Fighting back tears, Annette Bradshaw said she was saddened by the "horrible" killing.
"This takes us back to the time when the big bomb was here," she said.
Her husband Alan called the killers "scum".
"They have no place on the island of Ireland, north or south," he said. They have no support in this community; they're not doing it in our name."
Eugene Floyd, whose daughter Alison was injured in the 1998 Real IRA bomb blast, said he wanted to sign the book to "support the family at this time of their sad loss and also back the present government in Northern Ireland".
Today, at Constable Kerr's funeral in Beragh, GAA members and PSNI officers will walk side by side to mourn the loss of their friend and colleague.
Requiem Mass will be conducted by parish priest Fr Arthur McAnearny and Fr John Skinnader, a relative.
Fr McAnearny, who had known Constable Kerr since he was eight, said: "He didn't see the evil or badness in anybody."
THE tears in people's eyes said it all - raw emotion on their faces, emerging from a house blanketed in grief. All of Omagh and its surrounding areas are in mourning for the brave young officer whose life was callously taken on Saturday.
Atop Drumduff Hill, overlooking the family home of Constable Ronan Kerr (25) - killed when a bomb exploded under his car as he left for work - a tourist sign stands.
On it is a poem. The final line seemed to sum up the mood in the air yesterday as a steady procession of cars made their way back and forth to the yellow house down a quiet rural lane: "And the hearth of my people is broken and cold."
Of the hundreds who flocked to the family home in Beragh yesterday to pay their respects to the young recruit's family one summed it up: "It's the saddest house I have ever been to."
The country road was being marshalled by volunteers from the local community, directing traffic to a church car park, where two mini-buses brought visitors to and from the house.
Everyone who stepped off the buses seemed to carry a heavy burden on their shoulders.
Sandra, a nurse from Omagh, said the experience had been "absolutely devastating"!
To see a photo with six people in it and now there's two of those people missing, so needlessly and so callously," she said.
"It's so sad; I think that's the saddest house I've ever been to."
One theme coming from the visitors was the strength of Ronan's mother Nuala during this difficult time, coming just two years after the death of her husband from cancer.
"Nuala is very strong," said Pat, from Beragh. "She can face up to it well but it's very sad.
"It's hard to know what to say, everybody's shocked.
"Over the years when the thing was at its worst you would always imagine that you didn't know somebody, but when it's somebody you know it's that much worse. And you wouldn't expect it to happen here."
Another couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Kerr family were "amazingly strong".
"They are getting incredible support from members of the community here."
In Omagh town centre, the heavy rain didn't stop the steady stream of visitors into the Public Services Centre on High Street where a Book of Condolence has been opened. Messages of sympathy were written across its pages, heartfelt words from a town which knows too well the feeling of loss and damage caused by tragedy.
One note called Mr Kerr "a modern day Irish hero", another "a fine and upstanding young man".
Fighting back tears, Annette Bradshaw said she was saddened by the "horrible" killing.
"This takes us back to the time when the big bomb was here," she said.
Her husband Alan called the killers "scum".
"They have no place on the island of Ireland, north or south," he said. They have no support in this community; they're not doing it in our name."
Eugene Floyd, whose daughter Alison was injured in the 1998 Real IRA bomb blast, said he wanted to sign the book to "support the family at this time of their sad loss and also back the present government in Northern Ireland".
Today, at Constable Kerr's funeral in Beragh, GAA members and PSNI officers will walk side by side to mourn the loss of their friend and colleague.
Requiem Mass will be conducted by parish priest Fr Arthur McAnearny and Fr John Skinnader, a relative.
Fr McAnearny, who had known Constable Kerr since he was eight, said: "He didn't see the evil or badness in anybody."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1206
Published Date: 06-Apr-11
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