THE PARENTS of Michael Dwyer, who was shot dead in Bolivia in April, have revealed they only learned of his death when journalists began ringing and calling to their home the day after he died.
Martin and Caroline Dwyer, from Ballinderry, Co Tipperary, have criticised newspapers that published graphic photographs of their son as he lay partially clothed in a pool of blood on a hotel room floor in Santa Cruz.
The photographs had been “extremely shocking”, they said.
Ms Dwyer said on April 16th, the day her 25-year-old son was killed, a journalist rang her house and asked if he was working in Bolivia. Once this was confirmed, the journalist abruptly hung up. Another reporter called and broke the news over the phone that Mr Dwyer was dead, while others began turning up at the house.
It was only after extensive media coverage that the Department of Foreign Affairs was in a position to confirm it was her son who was dead.
The family have called for an independent international investigation into his death.
After the inquest yesterday into Mr Dwyer’s death, his parents and sisters Aisling (23) and Ciara (22) and one other son, Emmet (14), issued a statement that read: “Every day for the past six months, we have grieved his loss and – every time we think of that fatal day in April – we are numbed.
“That ‘single bullet through his heart’ has gone straight through our hearts too. We cannot come to terms with losing Michael and have found it very difficult to return to the routine of our lives: we miss him so much . . .
“Our home no longer resonates with the laughs and jovial conversation that Michael was always responsible for. He was a character: whenever he was at home with us in Tipperary, you knew it. His personality was infectious, and he was such good fun. He was the big brother who looked out for his sisters, enjoyed taking his young brother to Galway for weekends, and helped taking care of his Gran. He was so generous with his time, and was always there for his family and friends.”
Mr Dwyer travelled to Bolivia last November with two Hungarians and a Slovak he had met while a security guard team leader on Shell’s Corrib gas pipeline project in Co Mayo. The men were due to take part in a bodyguard course in Bolivia but when the course did not materialise the men Mr Dwyer had travelled with to Bolivia returned to Ireland.
One of them, Tibor Resves, introduced Mr Dwyer to a Bolivian of Hungarian origin, Eduardo Rózsa Flores. Mr Flores offered Mr Dwyer unspecified security work and Mr Dwyer stayed on to take up that work.
The Bolivian authorities believe Mr Flores was being paid by Santa Cruz businessmen to begin an armed struggled to secure independence from Bolivia for Santa Cruz. The anti-terrorist police in Bolivia moved in on the men’s hotel in Santa Cruz on April 16th last, killing Mr Dwyer, Mr Flores and another man.