Hundreds mourn as doting father buried

MURDER victim Wayne Doherty was laid to rest yesterday with hundreds of mourners accompanying the 32-year-old father-of-two’s funeral procession.

The coffin, draped in the tricolour, was carried by men neatly dressed in white shirts and black ties as a tin whistle player walked in front playing a lament.

Mr Doherty was gunned down outside his parents home in Hartstown, west Dublin, by gang members as he attempted to intercede on behalf of neighbour it is believed the gunmen intended to attack.

Leading the mourners at the funeral in Mr Doherty’s local church, St Ciaran’s, were his wife Karen and two children Christopher, 10, and Joanne, 5. In the church Christopher told the large congregation “I love you daddy. Jesus look after him.”

Beside his father’s coffin was a family picture and a pair of boxing gloves symbolising Mr Doherty’s involvement in that sport.

Among the mourners were Dublin MEP Joe Higgins and world-boxing champion Bernard Dunne, who heard Fr Joe Coyne state in his homily that the “whole community has been wounded” by Mr Doherty’s brutal killing.

Focusing on Mr Doherty’s killers Fr Coyne added; “who dare decide somebody should live or die? Why shouldn’t these people be held accountable?”

Following the funeral Mr Higgins, a friend of Mr Doherty and his family for over 20 years, told the Irish Examiner, “a lot of people in west Dublin are hurting over what happened to Wayne, this is very personal to me, his family and his friends. We want to see the people who committed this crime found, put on trial and put away for a very long time.”

He added, “There was a huge turnout of solidarity today by the decent, salt of the earth people in our community which is the vast majority of people.”

Gardaí are continuing to hunt for the chief suspect.

Mr Doherty’s killer is believed to be connected with a west Dublin drugs gang and was contacted by gardaí last Sunday.

At that stage, it is believed he offered to assist gardaí with their inquires, but has since gone to ground.

Gardaí are working on the theory that Mr Doherty was killed by a gang who were seeking another local resident with whom they had a dispute with earlier that evening.

Mr Doherty, was hit with a shotgun blast at 11.30pm on Saturday. He was chatting with his brother and sister outside the family home in Oakview Way, Hartstown, when two cars containing the armed gang pulled up.

Mr Doherty walked towards one of the vehicles and was confronted by the gunman who fired two shots.

One shot hit Mr Doherty in the torso and, although rushed from the scene, he died in James Connolly Hospital.

His last words were telling his family that he loved them.