Back battle against violence in North, mourners told

PEOPLE in Northern Ireland must be unequivocal in their condemnation of murder and support the forces of law and order, mourners at the funeral of a man who died after being beaten in Belfast were told yesterday.

As two men from west Belfast were charged by police with assisting the killers of 25-year-old David Cupples before Christmas in Clifton Park Avenue, a Presbyterian minister told mourners that while anger was understandable, it accomplished nothing.

"When I left the intensive care unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital on that Sunday after sitting at David's bedside with John (his father) and David's brother Stephen, my immediate and initial reaction was anger," the Rev George Moffett told the congregation at Tullycarnet Presbyterian Church in east Belfast.