Pain is still ‘too raw’ for Midleton

OPINIONS on Wayne O’Donoghue and his release from prison were offered reluctantly yesterday in the town still aching from his crime.

While most people on the streets of the east Cork town of Midleton were willing to discuss the awful events that unfolded in their midst between January 4 and 17, 2005, just a handful were willing to be quoted about his release. None were willing to allow their names to be published or to be photographed.

Everyone knows either one or both of the families at the centre of the tragedy.

One woman said she knows Wayne’s grandmother and Majella Holohan.

Another knows Wayne’s dad and knows Robert’s dad to see.

“They are lovely people — salt of the earth, and the Holohans, my heart goes out to them,” she said.

“Everyone here knows someone on one of the sides. It’s still too raw,” added another woman pushing her young baby in a pram past the post office.

“It was obvious the fact that he hid the body, and was involved in the search, still hurts.”

But while few were reluctant to comment on record, the vast majority said that despite Mr O’Donoghue’s actions after the killing, he should be allowed to get on with his life.

“You’d think he was the first man on earth to commit a crime,” said one elderly woman in response to the intense media interest in the story.

Speaking outside Fitzi’s pub, a mother and daughter from Carrigtwohill said they felt the time had come for the O’Donoghues to be left alone. “Nothing that’s said or done now can bring Robert back,” they said.

An elderly man outside La Tratorria restaurant said the media was getting too much coverage out of the story.

“It’s a tragedy. People have to move on,” he said.

A pregnant woman clutching her young son said she felt Mr O’Donoghue has served his time and is full of sorrow. Her friend said a lot of people have been hurt and there are no winners in this terrible tragedy.

But in a theme repeated across the town, parents feel for the Holohans. Few feel that if they were in Mark and Majella Holohan’s position, they could forgive.

“If I was Robert’s mother, I would find it hard to forgive, but you have to try and move on,” a mother of three sons said.

“My heart goes out to Majella. I don’t know how she will come to terms with this. Wayne’s parents have him to talk to, Rob’s parents can’t talk to him.”