by Kate Heaney
THE return of a memorial plaque stolen from the grave of an RUC man killed 50 years ago near Castlefinn vandalised with pro-IRA slogans has been described as a ‘disgusting action and an insult to the family’.
A memorial plaque placed on the grave of the late Detective Constable John Doherty in October, to mark the 50th anniversary of his 1973 murder, was stolen just weeks later.
Last weekend the plaque was returned to his grave but the original tribute to the fallen officer had been defaced and the rear of the stone stencilled with the following – “Remember all the victims of the RUC collusive behaviour with loyalist paramilitaries.
RUC/PSNI Sectarian Police – enforcing British rule in Ireland not welcome. Up the IRA.”
It is understood the defaced stone has now been taken away by gardaí investigating the case.
Speaking to the Donegal News this week Ross Hussey a representative from the RUC George Cross group described the actions of those who stole, then defaced the memorial stone as “totally wrong”.
“It was a disgusting act in the first place and an insult to Officer Doherty’s family. They did this on consecrated ground and regardless of views this is totally wrong. The man was resting in peace and probably the people who killed him are dead. I thought initially when the plaque was stolen from the grave in October that it was maybe a couple of boys who had been drinking, with republican instincts. I thought maybe they had thrown the stone in the river in Castlefinn. But clearly it was taken away to be defaced, to be offensive to the family and that is who I am concerned about.
“It is totally wrong when you cannot have respect for your dead. It is violating the sanctity of the burial ground and they clearly have no respect for any faith. You have to question their mentality after 25 years of peace,” Mr Hussey said.
He added that he was not aware of any other instance where people took something from a grave and brought it back in this fashion having gone to the trouble to use a stencil to print on the reverse of the stone and deface the original wording with a grinder or similar tool.
“What happened here makes me ashamed to be Irish and I am as Irish as anybody else. Bad enough that Officer Doherty was killed in front of his mother but then to deface his grave in this way. I hope the gardaí get those responsible and would like to hear them try to justify why they did this. We cannot change history but learn to move forward,” Mr Hussey said.
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