Forty-five days ago tomorrow, young Kieran Cunningham came to Galway for a night out with his friends. And he never went home. That is the time that has elapsed since he was horrifically knifed to death in an attack that shocked us all, given that it happened in a relatively well-trodden part of the city, just yards from Eyre Square, at a time when the biggest event ever held in Galway was in full swing.
My thoughts went back to him this week when I read our front page report on another city stabbing, just yards from where Kieran was killed. In this case, a young man was set upon and stabbed with a scissors — he managed to escape, but not before he was again set upon and savagely beaten.
Evidence given at this latest trial reported that the victim was just one centimetre away from being left paralysed for life, confined to a wheelchair. Another needless victim of stupid late night crime. But at least, he survived.
This case and the failure so far to find Kieran Cunningham’s killer begs the question, just how safe is our city centre anymore? Of course, the heart of the city is where the most people congregate, and where there is congregation, there will always be conflict, misunderstanding and a tsunami of testosterone. But in this latest case and in the Cunningham case, the victims were innocent, minding their own business, doing their own thing and were still set upon by thugs.
Hardened gardai who have seen the evidence gathered thus far in the Cunningham case have been horrified by the attack on the defenceless Claregalwayman as he made his way home from a nightclub in the very heart of the city centre at a time when the city was policed and secured like never before. Such detail will unfortunately come out in the fullness of time, when hopefully, it will be used to jail whoever carried out this shocking crime. All deaths in such instances are needless but in this case, there is no indication of any motive that should have led to an altercation, let alone such a tragic consequence on a warm balmy night out at the height of summer.
One hopes that the gardai are getting all the information and co-operation they need to help solve this case and that all communities throughout the country and beyond will help bring forward the key witness they need to speak to in relation to this crime.
One wonder what is the answer. More policing? More responsibility on the part of nightclubs and fast food joints to help disperse the crowds? — it is hard to know, but something needs to be done to protect the innocent who come to Galway to enjoy the Galway experience.
At the time of the Manuela Riedo trial, we were horrified to discover that the perpetrator came from within the city and later, further horrified to discover that this crime may have been prevented if the legislature were less reluctant to put behind bars people who were obviously a danger to society.
Galway has to learn from the Riedo murder that there are lots of dangerous people out there, some of whom are on the radar, but others who operate underneath and who are capable of carrying out the sort of crime that saw Kieran Cunningham lose his life. For nothing.
The city, the judiciary, the gardai and all of us owe it to the Cunningham and Riedo families to ensure that others will not go through what they did. Like all families, they assumed that their children could enjoy Galway safely. We now know that this was a wrong assumption. Let’s change that.
