The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Peace envoy recalls his murdered ‘bruv’
Aid worker David remembered four years after his death
Peace campaigner Mike Haines has paid tribute to his brother David on the fourth anniversary of his murder.
The aid worker from Perth was helping war victims in Syria when he was captured by ISIS terrorists in early 2013.
Footage of his execution was released by his captors on September 13, 2014, sending shockwaves across the world.
Older brother Mike has since embarked on an international quest for peace and has travelled the world speaking to thousands of schoolchildren, politicians and religious leaders, including Pope Francis.
Writing on his Global Acts of Unity website, Mr Haines, from Dundee, said: “As each year slowly comes round to this date, his loss affects me even more.”
He said: “I resent that time was taken from us all by his murderers. They stole a loving father, a husband, a son, a Godson, a cousin, a friend and a good man.
“Don’t get me wrong, Dave – or bruv to me – could be a right pain in the rear. He would argue that the sky was purple with red spots if the mood took him. He was obstinate as a donkey at times.
“He liked a drink and the company of friends. He was never good at the day-today trials of life. He needed to feel that he was making a difference. In his humanitarian work he found that difference.
“Dave was also generous, generous to his family, to his friends and to complete strangers.”
Mr Haines said: “It was this generosity of nature that took Dave to places of danger. Took him to distant countries and away from his family.
“We, his family took pride in Dave’s work, in this generosity. Although we missed him greatly we knew he was there to help his fellow man.”
He added: “In these days of increased rhetoric of division and hatred, humanitarian workers are sorely needed.
“We have political leaders promoting those politics of division: Trying to emphasise the differences between people and communities and not the similarities.
“People like my brother go into the field, often in danger of their lives to help those less fortunate than themselves.”
Mr Haines said: “My brother was and is a hero, and those workers like him are heroes. They don’t stand up and say look at me, look at what I have done. They just help those who need it.”
In 2016, the family opened a memorial garden to David at Perth railway station.
Mike Haines was made an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year.