Funeral for man hit by stolen car outside City Cemetery

Tributes: Seamus Conlon THE funeral of a west Belfast man who was knocked down and killed by a stolen car outside City Cemetery will take place today.

Seamus Conlon was fatally injured in the incident on the Whiterock Road shortly after attending the funeral of a neighbour last Saturday.

The 70-year-old, who had previously battled cancer and heart problems, was taken to hospital but later died of his injuries on Saturday — the anniversary of his mother’s death.

His Requiem Mass will be held today at noon at Corpus Christi Church followed by burial in the City Cemetery.

He is survived by wife Kay, daughter Geraldine, sons Seamus and Thomas and the wider family circle.

Mr Conlon’s siblings paid moving tributes to him following his death.

A newspaper notice read that he “will be sorely missed by his broken-hearted brother Brendan, Kathleen and the Conlon family”.

His sister Chrissie also sent her love saying he would be “deeply missed and lovingly remembered by all of us”.

In a touching tribute his brother Herky and his family said: “To be born a gentleman was an honour, to die one is an achievement.”

He said his brother was “one of the quietest, best men you could ever meet”.

Father Paddy McCafferty, parish priest at Corpus Christi in Ballymurphy, said the whole area was in deep shock over what had happened.

He added: “The whole community is upset at this tragedy, which is awful as it stands, but which could have been catastrophic given the amount of children and families always on that road.”

Two other men were also hit by the Vauxhall Vectra and seriously injured.

A man was remanded in custody on Monday charged with the pensioner’s death and a string of other offences.

The accused is due to appear in court again by video-link on September 2.