The Five Demands

Scarcerati Pearse McAuley e Kevin Walsh condannati per l’omicidio McCabe

Due noti dissidenti repubblicani, Pearse McAuley (evaso il 7 luglio di 18 anni fa con Nessan Quinlivan dal carcere inglese di Brixton, ndr) e Kevin Walsh, condannati entrambi a 14 anni di carcere, sono stati rilasciati questa mattina.
Detenuti nel carcere irlandese di Castlerea, sono tornati in libertà dopo aver scontato  3/4 della loro condanna per l’assassinio di Jerry McCabe, detective del Garda.
Reclusi nel 1996, hanno poi ottenuto nel 1999 una riduzione della pena dopo che un testimone si è rifiutato di deporre dinnanzi alla Special Criminal Court di Dublino.
Gerry Adams, leader del Sinn Fein, ha ricordato che entrambi i prigionieri erano in possesso dei requisisti per beneficiare del rilascio anticipato nei termi del Good Friday Agreement, ma hanno scontato quanto dovuto.
“In una dichiarazione pubblica di qualche anno fa, i membri dell’IRA condannati per la morte di Jerry McCabe e il ferimento dell’ufficiale del  Garda Ben O’Sullivan, hanno espresso il loro profondo rammarico e si sono scusati per il ‘male e il dolore causato alle loro famiglie’.”
“Credo che queste scuse siano state reali ed incarnano i sentimenti dei repubblicani in tutto il mondo. Mi rammarico profondamente  perla grande perdita e il male subito dalle famiglie McCabe e O’Sullivan.”
Pearse McAuley avrebbe dovuto essere estradato in Inghilterra per fronteggiare un’accusa di possesso d’armi ed esplosivi, ma il Crown Prosecution Service ha deciso per il non luogo a procedere per la mancanza di una ‘prospettiva realistica’ di condanna, così come nei confronti di Nessan Quinlivan,  Andrew Martin Anthony e Duncan.

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McCabe killers freed from prison (U TV)
Two notorious IRA killers have been released from jail after serving ten years for shooting dead a Garda Detective in a hold-up.
Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh were part of a Provisional gang which pleaded guilty to killing Jerry McCabe in a high-profile trial hit by witness intimidation.
The pair were freed from prison in the Irish Republic after serving three quarters of their sentences.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said McAuley and Walsh had apologised for Det Gda McCabe’s killing and should have been granted early release under the Good Friday Agreement.
“In a public statement some years ago the IRA members convicted in relation to Jerry McCabe’s death and the wounding of Garda Ben O’Sullivan, expressed their deep regret and apologised for the ‘hurt and grief we have caused to their families’,” the West Belfast MP said.
“I believe that this apology was genuine and it echoes the sentiments of republicans everywhere.
I deeply regret the great loss and hurt suffered by the McCabe and O’Sullivan families.
“The release of Kevin Walsh and Pearse McCauley comes at the end of their sentences, despite them being qualifying IRA prisoners under the Good Friday Agreement.”
Jail-breaker McAuley had been on-the-run at the time of the 1996 shooting after escaping from Brixton Prison in London five years earlier while awaiting trial for murder and explosive offences.
He was jailed for 14 years for the detective’s manslaughter in 1996.
Walsh, believed to have fired the fatal shots which killed Det McCabe and a senior IRA figure from Patrickswell, Co Limerick, was also given 14 years.
The gang members had been charged with murder but all pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in 1999 after witnesses refused to give evidence in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court.
Both men was freed from Castlerea prison, Co Roscommon, with time off for remission.
McAuley, from Strabane, is facing extradition back to Britain for trial on the arms and explosives charges. It is not clear if the warrant will be served.
Gerry McCabe
Det Gda McCabe was gunned down in a hail of bullets as the IRA gang held-up an An Post van in the Co Limerick village of Adare, in June 1996. He was shot 15 times from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
They rammed the unmarked garda patrol car that was escorting a post office van delivering £80,000 to local offices.
His colleague, Det Gda O’Sullivan, was seriously injured in the shooting.
The McCabe family issued a statement in the last fortnight insisting that they did not want to discuss the killers’ release but added that it offered them some closure after the rule of law has been served.
Two other men jailed over the killing – Jeremiah Sheehy who had been sentenced to 12 years’ and Michael O’Neill who served more than eight years – have already been released.
A fifth man, John Quinn, was jailed for six years for conspiracy to commit a robbery of a post office van at Adare.
The gang had attempted to secure early release under the Good Friday Agreement but the Irish Government rejected their bid.