THE Knocks Grattans GAA Club recently commemorated the late Louis Leonard during a tree planting ceremoney which took place at the Knocks Lough.
The late Louis Leonard was murdered in his butcher’s shop in Derrylin on December 15, 1972. Those in attendance included past team mates of the late Louis Leonard along with his widow Betty and his brothers Hugh and Ciarán.
“In the week that was in it, I was privileged to attend the tree planting ceremony at the Knocks Lough in memory of my brother Louis who was murdered on December 15, 1972,” Ciarán told the Herald.
“The event was organised by members of the Knocks Grattans GAA club, who Louis played for most of his adult life. It was great to see his old team mates Frank ‘Francie’ Tracey and Noel ‘Doc’ McElroy there. They still have fond memories of their playing days.
“Louis’ widow Betty spoke of how emotional she found the gathering and if only Civil Rights had been granted way back in 1968/69 to their generation, then imagine all of the lives that would have been saved and all of the hurt and anguish that we all would have been spared.”
The Leonard family like many others across the county who have lost a loved one as a result of the recent conflict across the North have criticised the proposed British Government’s amnesty plan which would prevent prosecutions for conflict-related offences and close down both present and future police and Police Ombudsman investigations, civil actions and legacy inquests.
As a result of this, efforts such as the ‘Time for Truth’ campaign which launched a day of action against the British Government’s legacy proposals provided a stepping-stone for the Leonard family to confront what happened in 1972 and to expose it with new hope that developments will made on this case put forward by the Leonard family in the new year.
“We know that this is going to be a long campaign but we’re going to keep at it in order to get the British Government to open up the files and implement the Stormont House Agreement,” explained Ciarán.
“Our hopes for the future would be that the British Government actually implements the agreements around legacy plans that they’ve already signed up to. “We have no updates in relation to our appeal as of yet but the case is still in the pipeline and we’re hoping for development in the new year.”
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