Castlebar struggles to come to terms with violent deaths

UNITED IN GRIEF?MicheΡl ‘Rocky Moran’, right leading a prayer vigil close to the scene of the murder of brothers Tom and Jack Blaine on New Antrim Street, Castlebar, with the victims’ cousin Paul Dunne, left, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne and Mayor of Castlebar, Noreen Heston.?Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus

Castlebar struggles to come to terms with violent deaths


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Edwin McGreal

Wednesday morning in Castlebar and the garda car parked blocking access to New Antrim Street tells you this is no normal Wednesday.
People you meet are in disbelief at what has happened. Like Cllr Brendan Henaghan said the following day, people always expect this to happen in some other town, never your own. Two elderly brothers, the vulnerable and venerable Jack and Tommy Blaine, killed in their own home.
There was so much to gall people. The nature of their deaths, the fact that they would have been so helpless to defend themselves. And the fact that it happened right in the middle of the town. In the middle of a town which looked out for them and looked after them. Yet its gaze could not be a 24 hour one.
MicheΡl ‘Rocky’ Moran and Paul Dunne are the two men who checked on them the most. Their Home Help Helen, Meals on Wheels and various medical professionals also called to their terraced house on New Antrim Street. But, as Cllr Therese Ruane said, people in general kept an eye.

‘Violent, cruel, callous’
“They were held deep in the hearts of the people of the town. I remember someone giving hassle to Jack and young people intervened and said ‘leave him alone’. They were minded by the people. The violent, cruel, callous way they died hit at the core of the people of the town,” she said.
Councillors were speaking at the July monthly meeting of Castlebar Town Council which was adjourned as a mark of respect. Shortly after they walked down to the junction of New Antrim Street with Tucker Street and Linenhall Street to lay a wreath of lilies, which Mayor of Castlebar Cllr Noreen Heston said were Jack’s favourite.
A small crowd gathered for the relatively impromptu event and an emotional Rocky Moran led a decade of the Rosary. The location became a shrine since the killings with thousands signing the book of condolences and flowers being left there day and night.
Cllr Noreen Heston, in what was effectively her first duty as Mayor, spoke eloquently about the Blaine brothers at the town council meeting.

‘Loved by us all’
“Jack and Tom were our boys and they were taken from us yesterday and they shouldn’t have died like that,” she said, the emotion clear in her voice. “Both were loved by us all. Jack would be around town more often. He finished Tuesday with his close friend Rocky Moran, the last, dignified, caring day of his life.
“Tom and Jack were very close. They lived for each other and they died together,” she said.
Cllr Ger Deere worked just around the corner from the Blaines at Enda Kenny’s constituency office. He said they were part of the streetscape and recalled Jack’s love for the town.
“Jack was very clued in on what was happening in Castlebar. When the Castlebar Community Development Association set up a drive for job creation and appealed for support, the first person in the door, and with a substantial donation, was Jack Blaine. He wanted to see his town thrive and it would be a tribute to him if we make Castlebar a better place to live in. Unfortunately it wasn’t a better place for Jack and Tom yesterday morning,” he said.
Cllr Brendan Henaghan knew both men since the 1980s, especially Jack.
“Jack was a very articulate man and would always address you by name. He declined in latter years but he knew who you were. It frustrated him that he couldn’t say your name,” said Cllr Henaghan.
He added that Wednesday was ‘one of the darkest days in Castlebar’s history’. Few could dispute that.