PROVISIONAL IRA murder victim Detective Garda Jerry McCabe is to be remembered at a mass on the 30th anniversary of his killing in Limerick this Sunday (June 7).
The 53-year-old Kerry native, who served in the Limerick Garda Division, was gunned down by a PIRA gang during a botched robbery of a post office van carrying cash.
Det Garda McCabe and his colleague, Det Garda Ben O’Sullivan, were providing an armed escort for the van when it was intercepted by the gang at Main Street, Adare, on June 7, 1996.
Det Garda McCabe was killed instantly when the gang opened fire with automatic firearms on their Garda car. Det Garda O’Sullivan, who survived despite being shot 11 times, died four years ago, aged 78.
Speaking ahead of the 30th anniversary of his father’s murder, Det McCabe’s son John McCabe, said: “It’s hard to believe it’s 30 years, it’s like it was yesterday.”
“A lot of Dad’s workmates from that era have actually passed away. It’s been a form of torture for a long time with publicity about the prisoners, but that’s ancient history now, done and dusted.”
Kevin Walsh, Michael O’Neill, both from Patrickswell, Jeremiah Sheehy, from Rathkeale, and Pearse McAuley, Strabane (now deceased), were initially charged with the murder of Det Garda McCabe and the attempted murder of Det Garda Ben O’Sullivan.
Manslaughter pleas offered by the four were accepted by the State after alleged IRA intimidation of key prosecution witnesses.
John Quinn, from Faha, Patrickswell, was jailed for six years for conspiracy to commit robbery of the van the two detectives had been protecting when they were ambushed, but he was not present in Adare on the day.
“There is an anniversary mass being held at 11.30am at the Holy Rosary church, Ennis Road, on Sunday,” added Mr McCabe, who followed his father’s footsteps into the force, serving as a Garda Sergeant in Shannon, County Clare.
“Dad had planned to retire that year in September. He was 53. I’m 57 now, I’ve nearly 33 years done in the guards. He was taken before his time.”
“We appreciate all the support and well wishes; that goes without saying. A lot of guards have been killed since Dad, so it’s not just our family that goes through this terrible loss,” he added.
Speaking five years ago on the 25th anniversary of her husband’s killing, Ann McCabe called on Garda Headquarters to redouble their efforts in bringing two fugitive members of the gang that took her husband’s life to justice.
“They need to face justice for what they have done. There was widespread intimidation of witnesses (at the trial) and that’s where the manslaughter pleas came from, but you don’t walk up to a car and fire indiscriminately into it and not think you are going to murder somebody,” she said at the time.
Speaking in Adare on the 25th anniversary commemoration, then Commissioner Drew Harris, said: “This does remain an active investigation, and it is subject to three-monthly reviews so it isn’t in anyway forgotten about.”
“At all times we wish to pursue further avenues and lines of enquiry, and perhaps the public can help us in that, because there are two fugitives who would have been well known in this area who have now moved elsewhere.”
He said that “we do believe people here in the locality or in Limerick may have information that could be of great assistance to us in locating those individuals”.