THE FAMILY of Derek McDonagh spoke yesterday of their devastation and grief at the loss of a loving father and husband.
The 27-year-old was stabbed to death during a violent altercation at the Arden View housing estate in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on Monday morning.
A member of the Travelling community, gardaí believe his killing is linked to tensions between rival Traveller factions in Tullamore. His wife Kathleen said of her husband yesterday: “You couldn’t get a better man than Derek McDonagh, a good father, good husband, good son, good brother; his family was his life. He lived for them.
“He was harmless, good-hearted, lived for his family, loved his little boy, did everything good and had a heart of complete gold,” she said.
Ms McDonagh, who is seven weeks pregnant, said her husband had been looking forward to his son Derek jnr’s first birthday on October 4th.
“He loved his little boy. That morning leaving the house he was kissing him and hugged him, ‘Oh I love you my little man, you’re my life, I love you,’ and walked out. He’ll never see his daddy again.
“I’m left here now with a son; he’ll be one in two weeks, and I’m expecting another baby. There’s no explanation for it, there’s no explanation for this at all.
“His daddy wanted to have a big party for him, inviting everyone.
“‘Come on to the child’s party, we’ll have a knees-up that night, a good aul drink’; sure he won’t even be there now to see his first child’s birthday.
“He was so looking forward to this party because he was a proper family man. You couldn’t get any nicer, I don’t think you’ll ever meet a nicer bloke, that’s the truth.”
Ms McDonagh described her husband as an outgoing man who enjoyed handball, horses and dealing in cars. He was very popular locally and spent his time looking after his family, she added. His sister Victoria spoke of her heartache. “He never even got to see his child’s first birthday, and now she’s pregnant for him again.”
Describing him as a true gentleman, she said: “He loved his family, he would always check on them to make sure they were all right, no matter where he’d go.”
His mother Theresa was overwhelmed with grief. Holding a picture of her son, she just repeated “My Derek, my poor boy.”
His wife continued: “There’s just no words to describe the pain. There’s no words at all, an innocent boy, he never harmed no one in his life. He never did no wrong. Never caused trouble.”
Speaking of those responsible for his death she said: “They’ll never be forgiven. They took him away from his father, they just destroyed him. That little boy has no father now, I have no husband. He has no brothers. The mother and father, their son is gone.”
The lives of the dead man’s parents Theresa and Anthony have been torn apart by the tragedy, she said. “Their life is not worth living without their son. Their hearts are breaking over him, he was still their baby, no matter how old you are; that’s still your baby.
“How can you live? That’s a part of us gone, he was my life. We’re not even married three years yet, we are only married for two and a half years. He was my life. We got married and we were each other’s lives, that was just a new life for us.
“We are literally living a nightmare, we are going to live a nightmare for the rest of our life,” she added.