The daughter of a man who was murdered and left in a farm pit for almost two years yesterday prayed for justice for her father as he was finally given the dignity of a proper burial.
Almost two years since he went missing near Bansha in Co Tipperary, Bobby Ryan (52) was laid to rest in his native Cashel after funeral Mass yesterday in the Church of St John the Baptist, just yards from the house where he grew up on Friar Street.
Gardaí are treating the case as a murder inquiry following a postmortem carried out the day after his remains were found at the bottom of a pit on farmland between Bansha and Tipperary town three weeks ago.
During a moving address to mourners at the end of yesterday’s ceremony, Mr Ryan’s daughter Michelle said a cloud hung over the family since June 3rd, 2011, when the popular truck-driver and DJ went missing, but now a chink of light was finally breaking through that cloud.
They could at last give him a funeral and bury him in the cemetery among his own people.
Daddy
Supported by her brother Robert, Ms Ryan said: "God didn't take Daddy from us, someone else playing God did that and we're asking God today to give us some . . . justice that Daddy deserves."
They had waited two years to find him and prayed every day during that time “that we would find Daddy, that Daddy would be back”. She thanked God “for giving him back to us, so we can lay him to rest”.
Ms Ryan thanked all who had helped with the search for her father since he had been missing, including the mountain rescue teams, gardaí, friends, family members and even strangers.
In front of a large congregation, which included family friend Tom Hayes TD and the chairman of South Tipperary County Council John Crosse, symbols were brought to the altar to represent his interests – a guitar for his love of music, two CDs recalling his work as a DJ under the name Mr Moonlight, and a banner from his truck in the Tipperary colours.
Chief celebrant Fr Bernie Moloney said his family and friends had known “the bitter taste of lamentation” over the past two years and he reflected on his life as a family man, friend and entertainer.