‘It was so painful, after his passing he got citizenship’
The family of taxi driver Moses Ayanwole, killed following a row at a Dublin rank last November, feel his death as keenly now as they ever did, with his wife Olusola whispering: “My husband is the best husband in the world. We have been together for 16 years, we haven’t been separated for a day. My best friend, my confidante, my supporter, my helper.”
More than two months on from his death at the age of 41, Olusola and her son Joshua, 12, are struggling with the lingering impact of the tragedy.
Moses, a UCD graduate who had driven taxis for nine years, died in hospital having spent three days in a coma after the attack on Pearse St on Nov 21.
In mid-January Olusola received letters that at any other time would have been a cause for celebration: The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration service informed her and her late husband that “Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Alan Shatter TD, intends to grant your application for a certificate of naturalisation”.
The timing of the letter could be cause for upset, but Olusola says: “I am an Irish now and my son is an Irish, Moses now is an Irish. It was so painful that after his passing he got his citizenship.
“The only thing is that I thank God and I thank the Irish people that they still remember him.”
To finalise her citizenship, she needs €950, although she has no idea where that money may come from.
Olusola and Joshua spent Christmas at a friend’s house, but she says: “I haven’t been separated from him for a day so at Christmas I was very lonely.
“[Regarding] Joshua, it wasn’t easy. He is a boy, and every day he says ‘I miss my dad, I miss my dad’. It is not easy. He is separated from his dad.”
A file on the case has been sent to the DPP, while a coroner’s inquest on Moses’s death is expected to take place this month. Olusola, a practising Christian, had said in the aftermath of her husband’s death that she forgave whoever assaulted Moses, but she is bruised by aspects of the case.
Speaking in the living room of their home in Clonsilla, west Dublin, she says: “Gardaí said the law is very slow here. The guy was out there, walking [around] instead of the gardaí putting the guy in the cell. I know this is Ireland but in London if somebody is accused of something the first thing is that they would be detained. Not like you’d be walking along the street. So he is at home with his family now, causing pain to me and my son and the family, especially the mother.”
As it happens, Moses’s mother, Felicia, is visiting from London, where she says she has lived for 40 years. She was not present at the funeral of her son, as is the custom of her religion, but says it is likely she will now stay in Ireland to support her daughter-in-law and grandson.
“They took all his dreams away from him,” she says.
Felicia was on holiday in Nigeria when the assault took place but had spoken to him for two hours that Sunday. Of Olusola, Felicia says: “We were praying for her because she was in pieces, crying on the phone, my blood pressure went up. It has been difficult, honestly. And the justice here is very slow.
“I will be praying for him [the alleged perpetrator] not to do it again but I will not forget because my son is not here. It means everything to me and I know how I have suffered.
“It has been very difficult especially the young one, the son, every day, every day here we have to comfort him.”
Olusola is not working at the moment and the family have lost the income derived from Moses and his taxi. There is no one to look after Joshua, she says, so she is staying at home at present, supported by friends and neighbours.
Echoing the views she expressed not long after Moses’s death, Olusola says: “The Bible says we should learn to forgive, not forget. I am not God, and I can’t judge. I forgive the attacker but I will never forget my husband.
“The justice has to be done, but from my heart I forgive.”
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