20 YEARS AGO, detective garda Jerry McCabe was shot dead by members of the IRA who were attempting to rob a post office in Adare, county Limerick. This week, family, friends and former colleagues came together to remember McCabe and the pain of his death is just as raw as it was two decades ago, his wife Ann told TheJournal.ie.
“It doesn’t change, you learn to live with it and that’s all you can do. The last few days really have been very, very emotional. All the memories, there’s so much going on.”
I will never get over my husband, ever, I can say that with my hand on my heart.
In Ballylongford, county Kerry, earlier today a plaque was unveiled at the house in which the garda had been reared. The ceremony was attended by around 500 people who came to pay tribute to McCabe. “It’s a lovely gesture and a great honour,” Ann said.
Lives at risk
Four men, Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O’Neill, Kevin Walsh and Pearse McAuley, were convicted of the manslaughter of the garda, but this offered no comfort to his wife.
“It annoyed me, because it was murder – out and out murder.” She said it was a “miracle” that his colleague garda Ben O’Suillivan, who was injured in the incident, did not also lose his life that day. The ongoing gangland feud in Dublin is something McCabe said she is “very concerned” about, as unarmed gardaí are often first on the scene. Six men have been shot dead in the gangland war since 5 February and gardaí believe there will be further violence.
“Innocent people are being shot and if it continues there could be members of the gardaí or members of the public caught up. They seem to be trying to move it on so hopefully that will work out and we’ll see an end to it before anyone else is hurt.”
Ann McCabe also spoke of the murders of gardaí Adrian Donohoe and Tony Golden in recent years, describing the lack of justice for Donohoe’s family as “an absolute disgrace”.
The father-of-two was shot dead by an armed gang during a credit union robbery in Louth in 2013. “Sadly for Adrian, his killers are still walking around. There are people there with information and if they had any sympathy for his wife they would do something.”
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