Colleagues pay tribute as garda laid to rest

Stunned colleagues of the garda who took his life this week paid emotional tributes to a man they described as exceptional as his family prepare to bury him today.

Gda Adrian Hickey will be buried in All Saints Cemetery in Garryclone, Cork, following 2pm funeral Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in his hometown of Blarney.

Hundreds of mourners, including a guard of honour from colleagues, last night attended a removal service in Tralee, Co Kerry, where Gda Hickey had been stationed since he graduated from Templemore in 2006.

Kerry’s highest-ranking garda, Chief Supt Pat Sullivan, said everybody in the force was suffering following the death of the popular 29-year-old garda.

He was found with a gunshot wound to his head in fiancée Emily’s garden at Lisloose, Tralee, around 4am on Sunday. Emily is pregnant with their first child.

She raised the alarm and Gda Hickey was rushed by ambulance to Kerry General Hospital where he passed away, surrounded by his family, on Monday night.

Supt Sullivan said gardaí are well used to dealing with tragedy but the loss of their colleague brought home the trauma and suffering endured by others in similar circumstances.

Gda Hickey was a respected member of the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit and his immediate supervisor, Sgt Declan Liddane, described his death as a tragedy.

Sgt Liddane added Gda Hickey was highly committed to his job and was hugely respected by colleagues and the public.

“He really was exceptional. He was a great friend and we will miss him,” he said.

Garda Hickey, who followed his father into An Garda Síochána, is survived by his fiancée Emily, parents Ted and Rita, and brothers David and Pádraig.