Beleaguered community in shock at girl’s death
“I thought my windows were coming in. I then thought someone was after blowing a car up. I came straight out and saw wheels spinning off.”
The car carrying Melanie McCarthy was parked outside Sharon’s neighbour’s house when a jeep pulled up and a gunman opened fire.
Sharon’s daughter had been at kick-boxing and her dad had collected her. They got back to Brookview Way at about 10.25pm.
“She went upstairs, into the bathroom to have a wash,” says Sharon. “The window was open and she heard it. She went to the window in the front bedroom and saw it.”
Sharon says her daughter was very upset: “She’s not the better of it. I’m after sending her to school.” Sharon’s family rang police, but someone had already done so.
“Somebody seen something. A car reversed. Somebody in a car seen it all and reversed straight back the other way.”
She says the car carrying the victim had only been parked outside the house a few minutes.
“There was no one there before. My husband would have seen it. There was no one there when they came in at 10.25pm.”
There was terrible screeching from the two cars after the shooting and they blocked each other as they tried to drive out of the cul de sac, which had space for only one car due to other cars being parked, says Sharon.
“There was screeching from the car, it was absolutely ridiculous. I remember there were two cars trying to get out and only one way of getting out, because of the van in their way.”
Sharon says the fact that the victim was the same age as her own daughter makes her feel sick.
There are “turf wars” in the general area, which Sharon believes are linked to drugs.
She says a number of houses not far away had been boarded up after families in them had either fled in fear or had been driven out.
“My friend rang me the other day. She works for all the drug rehabilitation people. She rang me and said: ‘Sharon this is getting absolutely ridiculous, the carry on that going on between families getting turfed out. I’m telling ye some innocent bystander [will be killed].’ She rang me this morning and said: ’What did I tell you?’ ”
“It was real quiet night last night, then a big shot,” adds Sharon’s neighbour. “I’m in shock, I’m only two doors up. It’s scary, because I’ve a young daughter the same age.”
Other neighbours on the street are equally shocked.
“It’s scumbags who done it,” says one young man. “It’s getting really rough around this place, people getting ran out of houses, shot, stabbed, whatever else.”
His friend simply says: “It’s disgraceful murdering a 16-year-old girl.”
One local drug activist, who, like many of the residents, did not want to be named, says there has been a lot of talk that a Traveller gang, heavily involved in drugs, was going to engage in violence in the area.
“There has been talk of them going to war. That has been threatened for a long time.
“Guns are everywhere and gangs will resort to using them at the drop of a hat and they will get the wrong people.”
He blames cutbacks to community supports: “The fabric of society that was there is gradually being eroded, which is being exacerbated by the removal of supports that were there for communities.”
By Emma McMenamy
Gorgeous, innocent and an angel.
These were the words the family and friends of Melanie McCarthy used to describe her.
Friends and family members flooded Facebook yesterday to leave messages of condolence.
One friend wrote: “Rest in peace Mel, you will never be forgotten gorgeous.”
Another read: “RIP Melanie. Gone but never forgotten God really only takes the best.
“Cant believe what happened to you, your were such a harmless girl sleep tight angel.”
One friend, who was struggling to come to terms with the murder, wrote: “She was innocent and got shot for nothing. Prayers for all her family and friends.”
Ms McCarthy, who also went by the surname McNamara, is believed to have moved from the Newcastle West area of Limerick to Dublin in recent years.
Her mother is originally from the Ballinacurra Weston of Limerick city and she still has relatives there.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the shooting as “an absolutely horrific incident”.
“Gun law on the streets of Tallaght, or any other part of the city or county of Dublin, or anywhere else in the country, is entirely unacceptable.
“Unfortunately, we have groups of people in the state who have no respect for human life and quite frankly, we have too many people accessing guns,” said Mr Shatter.
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