A
year has passed since the brutal murder of my cousin
Robert McCartney.
The
pain of losing him hasn’t got easier in that
time.
It
has got worse.
As
if losing Robert wasn’t bad enough, we had
to watch Bridgeen and the McCartneys being threatened
and intimidated out of their houses and a friend
of Robert being beaten up.
But
in my opinion the worst had to be the lack of support
– despite proclaiming the opposite – from
Sinn Fein, a party we had voted for and people we
had known and respected for many years.
To
watch Alex Maskey condemn the police searching the
houses of those involved in Robert’s murder
and the suspension for a couple of weeks of Sinn
Fein party members was particularly galling.
In
my opinion Sinn Fein’s support lay with the
people involved in Robert’s murder, not with
the McCartneys.
I
often wonder would they have been treated differently
if Robert had done ‘time’ or been shot
in the eye fighting for Irish freedom.
The
people involved in Robert’s murder and cover-up
should hang their heads in shame, especially those
who will be at the Bloody Sunday march this year.
Let’s
hope when they get home this year they don’t
murder anyone.
