Murdered garda hero honoured
by Tony Purcell
THE widow of the late Detective Garda Jerry McCabe yesterday spoke of the sense of pain and loss of a much-loved husband.
Mrs Anne McCabe was speaking after accepting the posthumously awarded Scott Gold Medal for Bravery on her late husbands behalf at a ceremony, held at the Garda College in Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
Detective McCabe was gunned down by the Provisional IRA during an attempted armed robbery on a post office van in Adare, Co. Limerick.
Also presented with a Scott Gold Medal was Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan of Henry Street Station in Limerick, who was seriously wounded on that fateful morning of June 7, 1996.
Both Mrs Ann McCabe and Detective Garda O'Sullivan were warmly applauded when they were presented with the medals by the Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue for exceptional courage and heroism involving risk to life in the execution of duty.
Accompanied by her sons, Mark and Ian and daughters, Jenny and Stacey and other relatives, Mrs McCabe said the medal would have a place of honour in their home.
"It cannot take the place of the man in whose name I accept it today, but what it can do is serve as a reminder of the type of man he was," Mrs McCabe said.
She said that over the past few years she has been at a number of award and commemoration ceremonies held in honour of her husband.
"None of these were able to take away the sense of pain and loss which my family and myself felt and still feel, at the loss of a much-loved husband and father. Jerry's family and friends will all take this sense of loss with us to the grave." Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan, who was accompanied by his wife, Ann, son John and daughter, Aoife, said that it was a proud day, but also a sad occasion. "It is a great honour for any member of the Force to be bestowed with a Gold Scott Medal, but the fact that the Garda authorities acknowledged me to be deserving of two is a very proud moment for me in the emotional sense,'' he said.
He added that the occasion was tinged with sadness with the death of his colleague Jerry McCabe.
"We try to remember Jerry for all the great memories we have of him, rather than the sad ones because we have to move forward,'' he said. Detective(
O'Sullivan made history by becoming the first member of the Force to be awarded two Scott Gold Medals.
In 1994 he received his first gold medal for arresting a man with a loaded shotgun on Childers Road in Limerick in 1991.
It was also a proud but sad occasion for the Callanan family from Thurles, Co. Tipperary, when Mrs Yvonne Callanan was posthumously awarded the Gold Scott Medal on behalf of her late husband, Sergeant Andrew Callanan. Sergeant Callanan, who was stationed in Tallaght, died in attempting to prevent an arson attack on the station on the morning of July 21, 1999.
Justice Minister John O'Donoghue said the awards paid homage to Detective Garda McCabe and Sergeant Callanan, who gave their lives in the line of duty in the service of the State and for the community.
There were two recipients of Scott Silver Medals for Bravery yesterday. Garda Thomas Lehane and Garda Patrick O'Hara, both stationed at Malahide, Co. Dublin, won awards for the arrest of armed raiders at Main Street, Malahide on November 23, 1998.
And six Bronze Scott Medals for Bravery were presented. Sergeant Michael McConalogue from Mountjoy Station and Garda Jude Ainsworth from Fitzgibbon Street Station were awarded medals for helping to rescue trapped residents from a fire on December 9, 1996. Bronze Medals were also presented to Garda Laurence Bergin from Clonmel Garda Station for helping to rescue a woman who had fallen into the River Suir on March 17, 1999, and Garda Padraic Powell from Ballyfermot Garda Station for rescuing two children from a house fire on May 18, 1998.
Also receiving Bronze Medals were Sergeant Aidan McGuinness and Garda John Dollard from Store Street Garda Station for disarming and arresting armed raiders in the Amiens Street area of Dublin on May 30, 1996.
© Irish Examiner, 2000