Kerry baby’s headstone smashed by vandals

GARDAÍ in Kerry are investigating an attack on a black marble stone placed at the grave of the infamous Kerry baby.

Locals who have been tending to the grave for more than 20 years yesterday spoke of their outrage after the stone was smashed by vandals. The stone had only been placed on the baby’s resting place in February.

“The stone has been smashed into smithereens and it took nothing other than a sledge hammer to do this amount of damage,” Caherciveen undertaker Tom Cournane said yesterday.

“They couldn’t leave the child alone in life and now they can’t leave it alone in death. I’m disgusted,” he added.

The baby’s body was discovered with multiple stab wounds at White Strand, Caherciveen, on April 14, 1984. The shock find led to the Kerry Babies Tribunal. The identity of the baby and his parents still remains a mystery.

Mr Cournane, who was called to the strand on that day, baptised the baby, named it John and ensured it was given a Christian burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, on the Waterville side of Caherciveen.

The grave had been marked by a simple wooden cross, but Mr Cournane put up the marble stone last February and maintained the grave. The inscription on the stone read: “I Am The Kerry Baby, baptised 14.04.1984, named John. And I Forgive.”

The undertaker heard about the vandalism through a phone call on Wednesday night.

“I last saw the grave on Sunday and it was perfect then. This desecration was obviously carried out in the darkness of night. If anyone did it during the day they would certainly be seen,” said Mr Cournane, who has been regularly visiting the grave since 1984.

Asked if he would replace the stone, Mr Cournane said: “I don't know. I’m so sickened by the whole thing at the moment.”

Inspector Martin McCarthy, who is heading the investigation, said no other graves had been desecrated.

“We’re very anxious to speak to anyone who visited the cemetery between last Sunday and 10pm on Wednesday in order to establish exactly when the damage was done,” Inspector McCarthy said.

“To desecrate a grave is an appalling act. Every civilisation respects the dead and maintains graves with a certain dignity.”