Crime boss Keane laid to rest

LIMERICK crime boss Kieran Keane was buried amid tight security as fear gripped the city yesterday.

More than 400 mourners attended the Requiem Mass in St Mary’s Church where the local parish priest appealed for peace and forgiveness.

The 36-year-old was murdered in a gangland-style execution at Drombanna four miles outside the city last week.

The investigation into Mr Keane’s death, which has been linked to an on-going feud in the city, is ongoing.

Armed officers from the garda Emergency Response Unit, uniformed gardaí, and the garda helicopter closely followed the cortége to Kilmurray cemetery.

The mourners were led by Mr Keane’s wife Sophie and his two young sons Kieran and Joseph.

The mourners included Keane’s sisters Mary, Paula, Marian, Rita, Geraldine and Sandra who travelled to the cemetery in stretch limousines.

The men who all wore white shirts and black suits walked to Kilmurray.

Two hearses led the cortege with Mr Keane’s casket in the first and the second was filled with wreaths.

St Mary’s parish priest Fr Donnagh O’Malley said death by violence is always difficult to cope with and he said all violence is driven by a deep hatred.

“To have peace in my own heart it is necessary to let go of prejudice and hatred. This is difficult, for all of us to do, as it requires a change of heart, attitude and behaviour,” he said.

The altar at St Mary’s church was filled with flowers and there were some poignant floral tributes that read Our Pal Never Forgotten, No 1 Dad and Best Dad.

Fr O’Malley told the congregation that God was forgiving and did not believe in any type of revenge.

“Rightly we are upset and disappointed if someone dies young, for whatever cause: illness, accident, or through death of violence or self-infliction,” Fr O’Malley said.

The priest also prayed for Mr Keane’s grieving brothers Sean, Patrick, Richard, Anthony and Christy who wasn’t released from Portlaoise prison to attend the funeral.

Keane’s nephew Owen Treacy, 30, who was stabbed seven times in the Drombanna attack left hospital to attend his uncle’s removal on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the violent feud in Limerick city escalated again yesterday when a house on Hyde Road was petrol bombed. The vicious feud has already led to a murder, a stabbing attack and an abduction in the last fortnight. The house was gutted in the arson attack just after 7am.

Garda forensic experts examined the scene after three units of the fire brigade fought the blaze for over an hour. No one was hurt in the attack on the family home.

Another house, owned by a relative of the abducted Ryan brothers, was fire-bombed on the Lee Estate last Sunday night.