Priest condemns ‘brutal and futile’ bar stabbing
THE killing of a young Limerick man in a crowded bar in Limerick last weekend was brutal and futile, his funeral Mass heard yesterday.
Patrick ‘Pa’ O’Connor, 24, was fatally stabbed in Fitzgerald’s Bar, Thomondgate, Limerick city, last Saturday. Mr O’Connor died from his injuries in hospital in the early hours of Sunday.
Last Wednesday, a 41-year-old man appeared at Limerick District Court charged with Mr O’Connor’s murder.
At yesterday’s funeral Mass, Canon Donal McNamara of St Munchin’s Church offered Mr O’Connor’s family his ‘deepest heartfelt sympathies’.
He said the killing had ‘left a trail of devastation behind’ for the victim’s family. ‘This tragedy and brutal killing of such a young, and loveable man – it’s futile, meaningless, and heartbreaking,’ he said.
‘No words of mine are either going to soften the blow or ease the pain, and unfortunately, there is no fastforwarding through bereavement.’
Fr McNamara added: ‘It’s unfair, it’s cruel and it’s mind-boggling.
‘He was a good family man. By no means am I going to canonise him today because he was no saint. As his mother said, he was a “loveable rogue”.’
Fr McNamara also told mourners how a number of killings in the community – including the murder of widowed pensioner Rose Hanrahan, 78, last December, had left their mark on him and the wider community.
Gardaí are still searching for the pensioner’s killer.