The murder of Joseph Rafferty

[popper]

What's your source?

[Wednesday]

Actually, Doolan told the Raffertys that the issue of threats against Joseph had been "dealt with", and the people involved had been warned. He told them there was nothing to worry about. Three weeks later, Joseph was shot.
Doolan claimed for four months that he'd never even spoken to the family, then later admitted that he'd talked to them briefly. He's still lying on that front.

None of the above is true. It is, however, true that the family themselves have changed their story on a number of occasions - from the day Joe was murdered, when they told the Irish Times that they had no idea why he was targetted, and over the subsequent months when they first admitted they hadn't gone to the Gardaí before the murder at all, then said they had, and in one astonishing interview with I think the Northside People they actually changed the details of their story in the course of the interview. If the killer is ever brought to court a good lawyer would certainly be able to use the family's own words to attack their credibility.

Members of SF/IRA know who committed this crime

A lot of people know who committed this crime, including many of our political opponents on this site.

and have evidence to link him to it.

Oh really? What evidence does anyone have? And if some of us do have such evidence why has no one been charged with obstructing justice?

SF/IRA have told their people not to cooperate with the investigation.

SF have said no such thing.

[Wednesday]

Emenates from the Gardaí, actually.

Ah yes, the same organisation which brought us the Kerry babies, the Heavy Gang, Dean Lyons and the McBrearty affair. Clearly a source which can be relied upon not to level false accusations against individuals or groups they bear ill will towards.

[martan]

Which they did ... except it wasn't a sanctioned hit. And the person who shot Joe was a campaign work for SF. And is still a member of the IRA.

Who is this person? Name? Description?

[cain1798]

Good grief. I don't know what world krazypaving is living on but it's far removed from reality.

Couple of points.

The man believed to have killed Joe Rafferty is not, nor has he ever been, a member of Sinn Féin. He is no way, shape or form connected to the Republican Movement in any capacity. Our position on this has been supported by, among others, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice.

To allegations that he is a party campaign worker, we continually ask for evidence or even dates and times. What campaigns? Where? And have yet to get an answer.

All Sinn Féin personnel have been instructed to co-operate with any Garda investigation and provide any information they might have and would face disciplinary action if found to have contravened this directive.

Cllr Doolan at no time denied meeting members of the Rafferty family and repeatedly urged them to report their problems of harassment to the Gardaí. At no time was any reference to a threat against Joe made to Sinn Féin prior to his death. The alleged threats received by members of the family related to people other than Joseph.

Cllr Doolan met with the Gardaí immediately after being requested to do so, furnished them with all the information he had and in consultation with them put out a leaflet in the area calling on people to come forward with information.

The reality is that nothing the Rafferty family do, say or accomplish in the US is going to make an iota of difference. There is nothing we can do, nor has the family been able to suggest anything other than that we should 'hand him over', something we are obviously and manifestly unable to do.

Krazypaving is simply lieing. The family are being used by a dispicable and power-hungry Fianna Fáil councillor to further his own political ambitions.

[ireland2004]

the slight difference between sinn fein and other parties is they have their own paramilitary wing . If a sinn fein member threatened to shoot me or one of my family id take the threat very seriously and hold sinn fein responsible for it if anything happened .

If a member of 32csm threatened to shoot someone , and that person was shot Ive no doubt what sinn feins response would be - collective blame . And rightly so in my opinion .

And if it was someone using the name of SF or the IRA? Collective blame is still to be laid at the doorstep of the Republican Movement?

I honestly dont know exactly what happened in the Rafferty case but whats being alleged wouldnt surprise me from my own personal experience .

By the way its not just shinner bashing , Id be equally wary of a threat from the Workers party too .