Man 'still waiting for answers' from gardaí investigating his brother's disappearance 78 years ago
Frank O’Neill (pictured), whose brother Jimmy O’Neill is the longest missing person in the State, holds a picture of his brother. File photo: Patrick Browne
The brother of Ireland’s longest-missing child has said he has been left “shattered” over the manner in which the gardaí have handled his case to date.
Frank O’Neill said he has been given no apology, no updates from gardaí into the case, and was not told if a recent forensic analysis of a letter that his brother wrote after he vanished 78 years ago revealed anything new.
James 'Jimmy' Malachy O’Neill left his Waterford home on December 15, 1947.
His only surviving sibling Frank O'Neill told the that his brother was “ran out of town by one bad garda” who wrongly accused Jimmy of stealing a postal order.
Jimmy was just 16 years old at the time and working in a local shipping company. It is believed he stowed away on one of their ships with the help of a friend and family member.
Frank O'Neill claims the local garda, who is now deceased, “harassed and intimidated” his family for years after Jimmy ran away and believes his brother was most likely “too afraid to ever come home”.
After he disappeared, Jimmy wrote his mother a letter in pencil that said: "Mama, don’t keep my dinner hot; I’ve drowned myself." In the letter Jimmy also insisted he is not a "robber". "I don’t want to disgrace my family being treated like that," it said.
Frank believes that intimidation by the local detective forced his brother to flee and that fear of this man stopped him from ever returning.
After Frank O'Neill went public with his story in the earlier this year, gardaí agreed to have the letter forensically examined. Despite the passage of time, Mr O’Neill said he hoped the letter would give him the breakthrough he had been waiting for, and perhaps reveal what really happened to Jimmy through DNA analysis.
However, Mr O’Neill said he was distraught when the letter was returned to him in a blank open envelope, two weeks ago. There was no cover letter and he was given no details on the outcome of the forensic examination.
“A garda came to the door and handed it to me,” he said. “I got no update, no nothing, I have been shut down totally. I never felt as bad as I did that day. I was left sick in my stomach. It’s not how people who are supposed to be helping you should behave — to have the letter just given to you with no explanation."
Mr O'Neill had written to the then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris two years ago asking him to open an investigation into the case. Mr O’Neill said all he wants is recognition for his brother who was forced to flee Ireland, never returning home and leaving his family devastated.
“My mother died crying for Jimmy on her death bed, and my father was at midnight mass crying hailstones the year he left — my late sister Nancy said she never forgot it,” he explained.
“I was literally sick when I got Jimmy's letter back like that. I have received little or no help because I spoke out about one bad garda, but I will not stop now. I want that apology for my brother and I will continue to speak out. I have been very let down.
“Last year Drew Harris said the gardaí are there for the families of the missing people, but I went to him and I’m still waiting for answers.”
The gardaí have been contacted.
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