BOMB NEARLY DROVE FAMILY TO SUICIDE
Bomb 'nearly drove family to suicide'
BY ALAN ERWIN
THREE members of a family bereaved by the Omagh bombing were so overwhelmed with grief they each thought of suicide, the High Court heard yesterday.
Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Lorraine was killed in the atrocity, revealed the depths of the despair and suffering they have endured in the years since August 15, 1998.
Fighting back tears as he gave evidence at the civil trial of five men being sued over the terrorist attack which claimed 29 lives, Mr Wilson recalled crying so hard for three months solid that he was left with ulcers in his eyes.
He told of being confronted with his daughter's body in a temporary morgue set up in the aftermath of the explosion.
Mr Wilson said: "She had head injuries, her face was full of shrapnel. Her right eye missing and a tear on the other eye.
"I took out a tissue and soaked it up and put it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her.
"I just couldn't stop crying, but my wife couldn't cry. She was in a state of frozenness."
Before the bombing, the court heard, he worked long hours to provide for his family, spending all free time with his children riding bikes, horses and other outdoor pursuits around their Omagh home.
But afterwards he said he struggled to cope with the enormity of his loss and at one stage contemplated trying to kill himself.
"I drove to a local country road and drove like a lunatic, hoping a tractor would come out in front of me to end it all," he said.
"I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. I must have cried for three months.
"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."
Both his mental and physical health had deteriorated. Mr Wilson described back pains and pins and needles in his legs.
"I collapsed at home on the floor and for a month I couldn't get up."
Questioned by Brett Lockhart, QC, for the families seeking damages from Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus McKenna, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, he said it was hard to dwell on the fun and laughter his family had shared before the bomb.
"That good memory has been contaminated because I can't think about it. I can't see Lorraine's smiling face because it hurts me that I will never see it again."
Mr Wilson told how his son Gary, who lost both his sister and a girlfriend in the bombing, was equally driven to despair.
One night he apparently tried to take his life in the family's 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.
"The only thing I could do with Gary was get him drunk so I could carry him to bed. I encouraged him to drink as much as he could so he would stop battering his head off the wall."
The court also heard how Mr Wilson's daughter Denise once contacted him in the early hours with a grim message.
"She said: 'I'm phoning you up to say I love you all deeply, but I want to be with Lorraine. I'm sitting here in the car - drunk - and I'm going to polish off this bottle of vodka and I want to end it all'," Mr Wilson recalled.
He said he spent half-an-hour talking to her before contacting police, who managed to stop anything happening.
His wife had shunned medication, preferring alcohol to help her cope with her loss, the court was told.
"She insists that drink numbs her, makes her feel the pain is eased.
"That's the way she goes to bed. It's a routine, a religion.
"I actually go in to the girl in the off-licence and say: 'Is Ann's prescription ready?' The girl actually puts a bottle in the cooler because she knows Ann's coming in for it.
"It's a pity that has to be the situation. I don't wish it to be that way."
Mr Wilson also recalled going on a national television daytime chat show where the presenter asked his wife if she thought he was a wimp for crying so much.
"I was devastated," he said. "It just tore me to bits. I just didn't feel the world was taking my argument to heart, so many people distraught - and they didn't care."
BY ALAN ERWIN
THREE members of a family bereaved by the Omagh bombing were so overwhelmed with grief they each thought of suicide, the High Court heard yesterday.
Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Lorraine was killed in the atrocity, revealed the depths of the despair and suffering they have endured in the years since August 15, 1998.
Fighting back tears as he gave evidence at the civil trial of five men being sued over the terrorist attack which claimed 29 lives, Mr Wilson recalled crying so hard for three months solid that he was left with ulcers in his eyes.
He told of being confronted with his daughter's body in a temporary morgue set up in the aftermath of the explosion.
Mr Wilson said: "She had head injuries, her face was full of shrapnel. Her right eye missing and a tear on the other eye.
"I took out a tissue and soaked it up and put it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her.
"I just couldn't stop crying, but my wife couldn't cry. She was in a state of frozenness."
Before the bombing, the court heard, he worked long hours to provide for his family, spending all free time with his children riding bikes, horses and other outdoor pursuits around their Omagh home.
But afterwards he said he struggled to cope with the enormity of his loss and at one stage contemplated trying to kill himself.
"I drove to a local country road and drove like a lunatic, hoping a tractor would come out in front of me to end it all," he said.
"I cried until I had ulcers in my eyes. I couldn't stop. I must have cried for three months.
"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."
Both his mental and physical health had deteriorated. Mr Wilson described back pains and pins and needles in his legs.
"I collapsed at home on the floor and for a month I couldn't get up."
Questioned by Brett Lockhart, QC, for the families seeking damages from Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus McKenna, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, he said it was hard to dwell on the fun and laughter his family had shared before the bomb.
"That good memory has been contaminated because I can't think about it. I can't see Lorraine's smiling face because it hurts me that I will never see it again."
Mr Wilson told how his son Gary, who lost both his sister and a girlfriend in the bombing, was equally driven to despair.
One night he apparently tried to take his life in the family's 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.
"The only thing I could do with Gary was get him drunk so I could carry him to bed. I encouraged him to drink as much as he could so he would stop battering his head off the wall."
The court also heard how Mr Wilson's daughter Denise once contacted him in the early hours with a grim message.
"She said: 'I'm phoning you up to say I love you all deeply, but I want to be with Lorraine. I'm sitting here in the car - drunk - and I'm going to polish off this bottle of vodka and I want to end it all'," Mr Wilson recalled.
He said he spent half-an-hour talking to her before contacting police, who managed to stop anything happening.
His wife had shunned medication, preferring alcohol to help her cope with her loss, the court was told.
"She insists that drink numbs her, makes her feel the pain is eased.
"That's the way she goes to bed. It's a routine, a religion.
"I actually go in to the girl in the off-licence and say: 'Is Ann's prescription ready?' The girl actually puts a bottle in the cooler because she knows Ann's coming in for it.
"It's a pity that has to be the situation. I don't wish it to be that way."
Mr Wilson also recalled going on a national television daytime chat show where the presenter asked his wife if she thought he was a wimp for crying so much.
"I was devastated," he said. "It just tore me to bits. I just didn't feel the world was taking my argument to heart, so many people distraught - and they didn't care."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/756
Published Date: 05-Jun-08
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