Four months ago, Gareth Hutch helped carry the coffin of his slain uncle Eddie.
On Friday, it was his turn to be carried aloft – this time in his own casket. His funeral was an occasion of tears, adult friends and family members weeping openly; children crying and incomprehending.
But it was also an occasion of great laughter, where a dearly loved friend was remembered for his pranks for the mirth he generated all around him and for his year-long tan (even when there was no sun, as was recalled).
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Gareth Hutch was gunned down as he got into his car at Avondale House flats on Dublin's North Cumberland Street on May 24th. His assailants were captured on CCTV committing the latest act, murder number seven, in the so-called feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs.
Having been waked in his parents home on the Drumalee estate at the top of Aughrim Street, a lone piper led Gareth Hutch's wreath festooned hearse down the street on Friday to the Church of the Holy Family where he had been baptised 36 years previously.
Behind the hearse walked a cluster of nieces and nephews, boys and girls in tears, adult family members and a large throng of friends and neighbours.
At the entrance to the church, doves were released into the air to the joyous pleasure of the many hundreds of people from many parts of the north inner city who had come to say their goodbyes.
His dark wood casket, which was carried into the church by 10 men and weeping women, was laid before the altar. On top was a photograph of a smiling Gareth Hutch and a floral spray, comprised of white lilies, giant daisies and greenery.
At the foot of the altar were placed symbols of a life lived – prominent among them a Liverpool football club soft toy monkey and a bottle of sun tan lotion.
"We have here parents mourning their child, a painful reality, numbed by grief and sadness," said chief celebrant, parish priest Father Paddy Madden, who was assisted by Fr Hugh O'Donnell from Our Lady of Lourdes church in Sean McDermott Street and by Canon Damien O'Reilly from the pro-Cathedral.
Hutch's parents, chief mourners Johnny and Vera, sat in the front pew, Mrs Hutch distraught. Surviving immediate family members sat beside them and in pews behind them, many, especially women and children, emotionally fragile throughout.
Fr Madden continued: “A mother – who cherished her son and first loved him in the human order and a wider family bidding farewell: a father – who was called to receive news of his son’s shooting-chilling news no one wants to receive.
“Fear, pain, grief, anguish, bewilderment are experienced by the family.
"Every tragedy has a human face. Beyond analysis, comment and speculation we have pain and tears. Life is precious, Sacred, God given; Gareth's primary concern was for the safety, wellbeing, care and protection of his son, Preston. "
Hutch was a big fan of the pop group, the Bee Gees, and the band's music was delivered convincingly by soloist Michelle Lynch – How Deep Is Your Love?; Immortality; and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? – interspersed by more traditional melodies such as Be Not Afraid and Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.
Nephews Callum and Cameron, and niece Abbie, led the prayers of the faithful. Friends gave the three eulogies.
Gemma Murphy remembered her friend in poetry: "We never thought we'd see the day When angles came to take you away Our eyes are red, our hearts are sore Knowing we won't see you no more. . ."
“Taken with violence,” she continued, “leaving us with rage.”
Mick Healy remembered his pal as a character and a lovable rogue.
Gareth was the sort of fellow, he said, who, if he “knew something that you did and no one else knew about it . . .he was going to slag you over it”.
“He had such a smile because he was always glad to see you . He was always smiling. He was the biggest wind-up merchant that I’d ever seen; a trickster, a messer.”
Healy recalled getting a haircut one day and returning to his car to find it plastered in flour and eggs. He was mad and walked around the vehicle to see, in the flour, Hutch had written with his finger “Jest who?” instead of “Guess who?”
Hutch was forever doing pranks with “his funny phone calls and his texts” – imitating someone on a voicemail, setting someone else up with a rogue text. . . and leaving hilarious bafflement in his wake.
Darren Hennessy, another close friend: "The last week and a half has been a terrible time for everybody connected to Gareth," he said, "but the one thing I can say, is that Gareth would be so very proud of the way everyone has been there for the children, how we have pulled together, united in support for Gareth's Mam and Dad, his brothers and sisters, and most importantly, his son Preston.
“It all goes to show, we all carry a little bit of Gareth in us.”
Fr Madden urged the path of peace.
“Breaking the cycle of violence is not easy,” he told the congregation before they left. “It needs courage, restraint, goodwill and right reason: and a desire for peace. We pray that those who may find thoughts of peace or possibility of working for peace difficult or impossible, that they may discover in the bonds of friendship, strength and support to overcome negative feelings.”
Gareth Hutch was laid to rest in Glasnevin Cemetery.
