TEARFUL RELATIVES TELL HOW OMAGH BOMBING RIPPED THEIR LIVES APART
Tearful relatives tell how Omagh bombing ripped their lives apart
AT the High Court in Belfast relatives of the Omagh bomb victims told of how their lives had been ripped apart as the harrowing tragedy of August 15, 1998, took over their lives.
Recalling the difficulty they faced in the aftermath of the atrocity, the tearful families of Aiden Gallagher (21) and Lorraine Wilson (15) took to the stand on Wednesday last - the second day of evidence - to give accounts of family life before and after the bombing.
Among those in the witness box was the wife of Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, who told of how her husband, a placid family man, had turned to alcohol as a means of coping.
Under questioning from Brett Lockhart QC, the families' barrister, Patricia 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."
Suggesting that the quest for justice had consumed her husband, Mrs Gallagher, continued: "He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now.
"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.
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 to 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 it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her."
Fighting back the 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.
AT the High Court in Belfast relatives of the Omagh bomb victims told of how their lives had been ripped apart as the harrowing tragedy of August 15, 1998, took over their lives.
Recalling the difficulty they faced in the aftermath of the atrocity, the tearful families of Aiden Gallagher (21) and Lorraine Wilson (15) took to the stand on Wednesday last - the second day of evidence - to give accounts of family life before and after the bombing.
Among those in the witness box was the wife of Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, who told of how her husband, a placid family man, had turned to alcohol as a means of coping.
Under questioning from Brett Lockhart QC, the families' barrister, Patricia 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."
Suggesting that the quest for justice had consumed her husband, Mrs Gallagher, continued: "He was always with the children and playing tricks on me. He's not like that now.
"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.
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 to 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 it in my breast pocket. I still have it. That's the very little I have left of her."
Fighting back the 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.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1952
Published Date: 12-Jun-08
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