A FERMANAGH woman has called for graveyard gates to be closed at night following the the overnight disappearance of coloured stones and a wreath from her father’s grave.
Dee Brazil McGaughey was left heartbroken when she discovered the sentimental items removed from the grave as well as further damage caused at Cross Cemetery in Enniskillen.
When she posted on social media about the ‘theft’, many responded blaming the birds for thieving the bright blue stones.
“There is no way the birds stole all them stones, moved the pots, took the stones under the pots, took the wreath, moved all the ornaments and trashed it and I had a wee black fence around the grave and it has been trampled over and broken,” Dee explained.
“I am devastated, absolutely broken, I ordered them stones in from Marcus Madill, nobody else in the graveyard has them stones, my father was the only person who had that colour.
“I got stones for my granny at the other side of the graveyard as well and they are on down the steps where a car can’t go and they are fine.”
Dee is calling for the gates of the graveyard to be closed at night as currently the public are able to drive up to graves.
“There has been a lot of things going missing apparently, flowers, wreaths, ornaments, I was talking to the men who were digging out a grave for a funeral and they said a lot of ornaments have been going missing.
“That graveyard is left open at night, it should be closed. You should only be able to walk in and not drive in. They can drive right up to my dads grave, that’s how it would have been done, just open the boot, the graveyard is left open and there is no cameras or anything. The big gates should be closed in the evening times they way they do in Belfast,” she said.
“My father is loved and missed by myself, my husband Mick and daughter Emily and my father’s brother Martin.”
The Fermanagh and Omagh District Council responded to the incident saying it “is aware of this incident and understand the distress felt by the family. While we are unable to comment on the specific circumstances surrounding the missing items in this instance, staff are aware of a small number of incidents when birds have removed decorative stones from graves across Northern Ireland; there are no plans to install decoy birds of prey in municipal cemeteries.”
“The theft of items from Council cemeteries is extremely rare and Council would remind all visitors to those facilities of the importance of appropriate behaviour that respects the peace, dignity, and reverence of these spaces. If families or visitors to our cemeteries have concerns regarding inappropriate behaviour, they should report this to Council staff, or the PSNI if appropriate.”
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