DISTRESSING FOR OMAGH RELATIVES
Distressing ordeal for Omagh relatives
BY RONAN McSHERRY
r. mcsherry@ussterherald.com
ON Monday, the opening of the trial of Sean Hoey (37) from Jonesborough, Armagh brought back the full horror to the families of the victims of the Omagh Bomb.
Hoey is facing 29 charges of murder relating to the most devastating attack of the Troubles. He is strenuously denying the charges. It is the biggest mass murder trial in Irish history and is expected to last for up to 14 weeks. The murders are among 58 offences alleged to have been committed by Hoey during a campaign carried out by dissident republicans in 1998.
Prosecution Counsel took just under two hours in their opening remarks to outline the case against Hoey. After describing previous car bombings and mortar attacks that Hoey is alleged to have been connected with, Mr Kerr spoke of the Omagh bomb. He began, "At 15.04pm a vehicle bomb exploded in Market Street, Omagh. It was a Saturday and the town was busy with shoppers. The explosion had a devastating effect. 29 people were killed, one of whom was pregnant with twins who also were killed. There were hundreds of casualties many of whom sustained severe and permanent injuries and severe trauma was caused throughout the community."
Families of the victims in the public gallery and watching from a link-up to Omagh college heard the names of the 29 people read out. Hoey has not been charged with the murders if the unborn twins. Taking five minutes to complete the list, Mr Kerr also stated their ages and details of family members left behind. The eldest was 66 and the youngest just 18 months. The list recalled the visiting school children from Spain and Buncrana, students, sons and daughters, wives arid husbands and grandparents from across the community. Some of the relatives were visibly upset and wiped away tears as a map showed the position on Market Street where they had been killed or seriously injured, before dying later in hospital.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden was one of those killed, later told the world's press gathered outside Laganside Court 12, "This morning was very difficult particularly the part where our loved ones' names were read out and where they actually died on the street or in the hospital. The only place we ever heard that before was at the inquest and it is very difficult. No matter how many times you hear it, it is the last time that life went out of our loved ones and that will never be easy to address."
Photographs shown in the courtroom also portrayed the ferocity of the bomb which reduced the maroon cavalier containing the explosives to a tangle of metal, and buildings in the locality to a mass of rubble, glass and broken wooden beams.
As the defendant sat impassively in the dock flanked by security officers, the prosecution alleged that those involved in placing the car bomb in Omagh meant to kill. Mr Kerr said, "The warnings given were wrong and so lacking in detail as to be meaningless. If the bombers genuinely wished to avoid the certain deaths and injury they knew would occur by placing a large car bomb on a busy shopping street, they could easily have given a description of the car and an accurate description of its location, as they had done in other attacks before. In fact they did neither."
Three warnings had been received half an hour before the explosion, with only one specifying a location as being the Courthouse. However, the car bomb had been left in Market Street, 365 yards away in an area that police had used to evacuate shoppers from the area. The result was carnage and death. The prosecution concluded their opening speech, "Those responsible at law for the bomb in Omagh should properly be found guilty of murder in relation to the persons who were killed on August 15,1998."
BY RONAN McSHERRY
r. mcsherry@ussterherald.com
ON Monday, the opening of the trial of Sean Hoey (37) from Jonesborough, Armagh brought back the full horror to the families of the victims of the Omagh Bomb.
Hoey is facing 29 charges of murder relating to the most devastating attack of the Troubles. He is strenuously denying the charges. It is the biggest mass murder trial in Irish history and is expected to last for up to 14 weeks. The murders are among 58 offences alleged to have been committed by Hoey during a campaign carried out by dissident republicans in 1998.
Prosecution Counsel took just under two hours in their opening remarks to outline the case against Hoey. After describing previous car bombings and mortar attacks that Hoey is alleged to have been connected with, Mr Kerr spoke of the Omagh bomb. He began, "At 15.04pm a vehicle bomb exploded in Market Street, Omagh. It was a Saturday and the town was busy with shoppers. The explosion had a devastating effect. 29 people were killed, one of whom was pregnant with twins who also were killed. There were hundreds of casualties many of whom sustained severe and permanent injuries and severe trauma was caused throughout the community."
Families of the victims in the public gallery and watching from a link-up to Omagh college heard the names of the 29 people read out. Hoey has not been charged with the murders if the unborn twins. Taking five minutes to complete the list, Mr Kerr also stated their ages and details of family members left behind. The eldest was 66 and the youngest just 18 months. The list recalled the visiting school children from Spain and Buncrana, students, sons and daughters, wives arid husbands and grandparents from across the community. Some of the relatives were visibly upset and wiped away tears as a map showed the position on Market Street where they had been killed or seriously injured, before dying later in hospital.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden was one of those killed, later told the world's press gathered outside Laganside Court 12, "This morning was very difficult particularly the part where our loved ones' names were read out and where they actually died on the street or in the hospital. The only place we ever heard that before was at the inquest and it is very difficult. No matter how many times you hear it, it is the last time that life went out of our loved ones and that will never be easy to address."
Photographs shown in the courtroom also portrayed the ferocity of the bomb which reduced the maroon cavalier containing the explosives to a tangle of metal, and buildings in the locality to a mass of rubble, glass and broken wooden beams.
As the defendant sat impassively in the dock flanked by security officers, the prosecution alleged that those involved in placing the car bomb in Omagh meant to kill. Mr Kerr said, "The warnings given were wrong and so lacking in detail as to be meaningless. If the bombers genuinely wished to avoid the certain deaths and injury they knew would occur by placing a large car bomb on a busy shopping street, they could easily have given a description of the car and an accurate description of its location, as they had done in other attacks before. In fact they did neither."
Three warnings had been received half an hour before the explosion, with only one specifying a location as being the Courthouse. However, the car bomb had been left in Market Street, 365 yards away in an area that police had used to evacuate shoppers from the area. The result was carnage and death. The prosecution concluded their opening speech, "Those responsible at law for the bomb in Omagh should properly be found guilty of murder in relation to the persons who were killed on August 15,1998."
Further Information
Publisher:
Ref: UH/1867
Published Date: 28-Sep-06
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