Gardaí hope to reunite owners with property

IN an effort to reunite owners with property recovered by the Gardaí, a property recovery day will be held at Bray Garda Station tomorrow.

Taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, September 22, the day will include property recovered countywide.

Supports to victims of crime will also be available on the day.

While most property recovered by the gardaí is immediately returned to its owners – particularly in the recovery of property stolen in the course of theft and burglaries – there are cases where the gardaí are unable to identify the owner and the property remains in custody.

Members of the public are invited to attend at Bray Garda station, where photographs of property in Garda custody can be viewed.

In addition the public will be able to speak to Sergeant John Gill, a Crime Prevention Officer who will be able to give advice on security.

‘ The day will include property recovered from all over the county of Wicklow. Property recovered in other garda districts in the country can also be viewed at www. garda.ie,’ said Sgt Gill. ‘I will be available to give advice, while victim services will also be in attendance. I would urge people to drop in for a chat.’

Social media is a very useful tool for Wicklow gardaí. Recently a camera lost by a French national was returned through social media even though they had since returned home. DEREK Leinster is still hopeful that survivors of the Bethany Home could still be placed on the Irish Government’s redress scheme as he takes his battle to Europe.

Bethany Home was a privately-run residential institution mainly for women of the Protestant faith. Mr Leinster was placed in the home as a baby before leaving at the age of four. Now he aims to take a case to the European Court of Human Rights over the treatment received at the home.

‘ The Bethany Home survivors didn’t get a redress or one penny piece from the Irish State. But after 17 years I now have some very good news. I have a legal team and two barristers working on my case.

Mr Leinster believes that Protestant victims of institutional abuse have been ignored during the recent inquiries into mother and baby homes and while he is happy to see some progress in his fight, he said it is also tinged with sadness.

‘We are now sending our submission to the ECHR [European Court of Human Rights] but it is a sad day that after all these years, we have to go outside of Ireland to get justice.’

Derek wrote two books on his experience, including a detailed account of his life growing up with a foster family living in Dunganstown in Co Wicklow.

He also led successful calls to have a memorial erected for the 227 children from the home buried in unmarked graves in the nearby Mount Jerome Cemetery.

‘ There are only a handful of Bethany survivors left and we will all soon be joining the 227 of our brothers and sisters who lay forgotten in Mount Jerome,’ he said. ‘It would be nice if some of us were still alive to see justice.’