Killer must live with Errol Dunne's death
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Wednesday March 17 2010
THOSE responsible for the death of Clogherhead fatherof-one Errol Dunne 'must carry the responsibility of his death for the rest of their lives and in the life to come'.
Those were the words of Fr Paul Clayton-Lea PP at the funeral mass on Friday for the popular 25-year-old who died last Tuesday afternoon following a serious assault on the Harbour Road the previous weekend.
'I feel, as so many of you feel, that we should not be here today, we should not be saying goodbye to Errol. This was not God's will that Errol's life should end. Our God is a just and merciful one and all life is valuable and no-one has the right to take that life from us.
'I pray that some good can come from this. I hope it is a wake-up call to value life as there are too many lives ended tragically and there is a disrespect for life. Every life is special,' he continued. He added that Errol's death had robbed family and friends of a great young man.
'Last Tuesday should have been a happy day because Aria, Errol's niece, was celebrating her third birthday. He was a great uncle and loved the kids, not least his own little boy, Josh. He might have been in his mid 20s but there was still the mischievous child in him and people loved that.
'He also had a quick wit and I recall my first meeting with Errol. I was just in the parish a short while and I got a knock on the door and it was Errol. He just welcomed me to the parish and said he'd call again. I was most impressed with this young man and his welcome. I later found out that there had been a garda checkpoint further up the road and some of his paperwork was not fully in order!
'But that was Errol, and I managed to do him a good turn and I didn't even realise it!
Amidst smiles and tears, the congregation was told of the family's turmoil and Errol's brave battle for life with his family by his bedside. 'They just hoped that Errol would come back to them and they did everything they could, talking to him and encouraging him. The medical staff also did all they could to save him,' Fr Clayton-Lea added. 'Errol is safe from all harm now but he enjoyed too short a life. We pray for him and his family, who are now just at the beginning of their grief.'
At the conclusion of the Mass, friends rose to read letters from his pals living abroad who couldn't make it home for the funeral. In unison, they stated that 'the good times would never be forgotten'.
'It breaks our hearts that we can't be there in body but you are forever in our hearts,' one wrote.
Fr Clayton-Lea was assisted by Fr Daly, PP, Togher with support from Fr Quinn and Fr Aidan Murphy.
Val and Amber performed the readings, Kurt and Savannah brought up the gifts, Jade did the reflection and Jason and Darren and friends added their words of comfort at the end of Mass.
Fittingly, 'Chesty', the man with the big smile and kind laugh, made his final journey from the Church of St Michael as the song 'Sweet Home Alabama' rang out.
- Hubert MURPHY
