Adrian Deacy, father of 21-year-old Joe Deacy who was murdered just over a year ago, appealed in Bohola Church yesterday for those with information about his son's death to come forward. Mr. Deacy, who is based in Hertfordshire, England, told an overflow congregation that his only son had died “in a manner befitting an animal”.
Despite an intensive garda invesitigation which is ongoing, nobody has been charged in relation to Joe Deacy's death.
The young GAA player, from St Alban’s in Hertfordshire in England had strong Mayo connections and was found unconscious in the driveway of a house at Gortnasillagh, Swinford, in the early hours of August 12th , 2017.
He died days later in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
At a first anniversary memorial Mass in Bohola yesterday Adrian Deacy described last year as “a living hell” for his family.
He urged the congregation that instead of praying for Joe they should redirect their prayers to those who know what happened to him.
He continued: “Without doubt (those persons) are also suffering....hopefully someone, somewhere, possibly in this parish, will have the courage to come forward”.
Along with his wife, Alison, and daughter, Charlotte, Mr. Deacy travelled from Hertfordshire, for the first anniversary memorial Mass.
Following the service hundreds of people, many of them from St. Colmcille's GAA Club in Hertfordshire, for whom Joe Deacy played with distinction, joined locals in walking with the family to the location in Gortnasillagh where the young footballer was discovered.
They carried placards which proclaimed 'Justice for Joe' and 'Someone Knows What Happened” before dispersing later to a memorial GAA match in the dead youth's honour in nearby Swinford.
Amid emotional scenes family members laid a wreath and a decade of the Rosary was recited.
